


Seven Years and a Day

by extra__ordinary



Category: Septimus Heap - Angie Sage
Genre: Developing Friendships, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, I’ve never done this before so just bear with me, but I’m trying okay?, not really sure where this is going, not trying to write a romance but it might accidentally come up later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25959436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extra__ordinary/pseuds/extra__ordinary
Summary: It’s a snowy, midwinter day when seventeen-year-old Marcia Overstrand arrives at the Wizard Tower, determined to be an Apprentice. But there’s another girl who just seems to be in the way.
Comments: 27
Kudos: 9





	1. Hopeful

The days leading up to the Big Freeze were always the coldest, but that didn’t stop the Wizard Tower Hopefuls from sitting happily in the courtyard, just like they did every afternoon. The six of them were gathered in small groups, talking and playing games, except for Adrienne. Like always, she sat on top of the courtyard wall, something she wasn’t supposed to do but never seemed to be punished for, dutifully reading a Magyk book. Despite the snow, the afternoon was quite boring, and the Hopefuls were quite bored.

Until someone new stepped into the courtyard.

Adrienne was unfazed by the appearance, but the three Hopefuls playing Village Chief in the deeper snow looked up in earnest at the visitor, a tall girl who looked to be not much older than the rest of them, bar Teya, the oldest, who was almost twenty-one.

“Hello, can I help-“ Teya started, only to see that the girl was walking right past the group, right towards Adrienne, who either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Excuse me?” The girl said, looking up at Adrienne.

“Hmm?” Adrienne glanced up from the page on 60 Second Dry Clean Spells, not seeing the girl, who was directly below her.

“Down here,” the girl tapped her foot, creating a small divot in the snow.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Adrienne slipped her book into her periwinkle Hopeful cloak and hopped down from the wall, “can I help you?”

“I’m here to be a Hopeful.”

“Oh,” Adrienne smiled, “I’ll take you inside to the duty Wizard then. I’m Adrienne. Adrienne McNamara.”

“Marcia Overstrand. Nice to meet you, Adrienne.”

Adrienne led Marcia inside the Tower, wondering why she had asked her, and not Teya, who was quite obviously the oldest, for help. But she didn’t mind. Marcia, as intimidating as she looked for a girl of around seventeen, seemed almost pleasant to be around, and Adrienne enjoyed the company. Besides, if she befriended Marcia first, the other Hopefuls couldn’t steal her away, as they were bound to do.

The two walked across the floor, which shifted to read _Hello Hopefuls_ before changing messages for the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, Silas Heap, who was stepping off the stairs. Adrienne nodded at Silas, then waved at a few Ordinary Wizards milling around, before stepping onto the stairs. Mindful of Marcia, who had probably never ridden the stairs before, Adrienne set them to slow mode.

“Is this the only way to go up?” Marcia asked, after a few minutes.

“Yes,” replied Adrienne, “unless you know how to Transport. I find them to be quite fun, but it can be pretty disorienting if you aren’t used to it. Are you feeling okay? We can step off for a moment.”

“I’m fine, thank you. These are just, well, quite slow.”

“Oh. Well then,” Adrienne grinned, as if she were playing a trick on an old friend, “fast mode!”

The stairs doubled in speed, causing Marcia to gasp and bobble before quickly gaining the balance of a seasoned stair-riding pro. Adrienne laughed, her long, strawberry blonde hair flying behind her. As the stairs reached the seventeenth floor, they slowed to a stop, and Adrienne and Marcia stepped off. Adrienne knocked on the wooden door just off the landing, giving Marcia time to adjust her hair and cloak, which somehow seemed to have stayed perfectly in place during the stair ride.

“Why didn’t you do that before?” Marcia asked, her voice cross, but with a little bit of glee buried in it, “we could have saved lots of time.”

“I didn’t think you’d ridden the stairs before. Most people don’t want to go fast the first time.” Adrienne replied, tucking her hair, which had not stayed perfectly in place, back behind her ears.

“Of course I’ve ridden the stairs before. This isn’t my first time at the Tower, you know.”

Before Adrienne could respond, the door flew open, revealing a tall man in purple robes: Alther Mella, ExtraOrdinary Wizard.

“Oh bother,” Adrienne whispered, then audibly, “I’m so sorry, Mr Mella. I didn’t know you were here. I just came to see Brian, and-“

“It’s okay, Adrienne,” Alther said, “I was just leaving. And please, just call me Alther. Brian, there’s a nice Hopeful here to see you.”

Alther stepped out the door, then stepped onto the stairs with a smile and a wave.

A middle-aged man in blue Ordinary Wizard robes approached the door, beckoning Marcia and Adrienne inside. He sat himself down onto a worn armchair, and gestured for the girls to settle onto a matching loveseat.

“Miss McNamara. And a friend, too. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Brian, this is Marcia Overstrand. She’s here to be a Hopeful.” Adrienne gestured towards Marcia, as if there were anyone else she could have been referencing.

“Well of course. I received word of it a few days ago. I have your cloak and belt here, Miss Overstrand. You do know the entailments of being a Hopeful, yes?”

“Yes, sir. I arrive at the Tower every day to attend lessons as substitution for regular Castle schooling. If my performance is seen to be exemplary, I am offered an Apprenticeship from a Tower Wizard, and if I perform poorly, I am asked to leave the program.” Marcia confidently recited the words, as if she had memorized them, just as Adrienne had three years ago when Teya had brought her to see Brian.

“That is correct, Miss Overstrand. I must also state that even if you perform well, it is uncertain how long your Hopeful status will last, or if you will even be offered an Apprenticeship at all. But the day you turn twenty-one, if you have yet to receive an Apprenticeship, we will have to let you go. You can still be offered Apprenticeship, but you will have aged out from the Hopeful program.”

“I understand, sir. Thank you very much.” Marcia took the cloak and belt from Brian and slipped them on over her winter dress.

“I trust Adrienne will show you the ropes. If you need anything, just ask for Brian Potts.” With that, Brian stood up and led them to the door. Marcia and Adrienne stepped outside, and waited on the landing until the door had closed.

Marcia exhaled. “Wow,” she said, looking at her cloak.

“Just wait until we’re wearing green,” Adrienne smiled, “shall we head back downstairs? You’re probably dying to meet the other Hopefuls.”

“Why not?” Marcia replied, stepping onto the stairs and beckoning Adrienne to do the same.

Adrienne set the stairs back to steady mode, and the two stood in companionable silence for a few moments.

“Adrienne?” Marcia asked, after a moment, “What were you reading?”

“Hmm?” Adrienne replied, slightly confused.

“What were you reading? Back in the courtyard?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. It was just a book of household spells.”

“Really? Can I see?” Marcia looked genuinely interested.

“Okay,” Adrienne pulled her book from her cloak pocket and handed it to Marcia, who opened it to the bookmarked page. Adrienne watched as Marcia flipped through the spells, slightly embarrassed that she had grabbed the most boring book possible when leaving home that morning.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Marcia looked up from the book and turned to Adrienne.

“This is a lovely book,” she said, “is it yours?”

“Really?” Adrienne was dumbfounded, “it’s my mum’s.”

“Well, thank you for letting me look through it,” Marcia went to hand the book back.

“You can borrow it,” Adrienne said quickly, “if you want to, I mean.”

“Thanks,” Marcia gave a small smile, “I can give it back tomorrow.”

“Wonderful,” Adrienne returned the smile, “shall we go see the other Hopefuls, then?”

Side by side, Marcia and Adrienne walked across the Great Hall and stepped into the afternoon sun.


	2. UnSeens and Dry Clean Spells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia enjoys her first dinner with her fellow Hopefuls, then attends a secret gathering led by Teya, the Hopeful in charge.

“So what do you want to do?” Teya asked, twirling her carrot-laden fork in small circles.

Marcia was enjoying her first dinner at the Wizard Tower at a small corner table with the other Hopefuls. All of them were engaged in conversation, bar Adrienne, who was sitting at the end of the table, still reading.

“What do you mean?” Marcia asked.

“She means what you want to be Apprentice for. What kind of Wizard,” said Dominic, the lanky boy sitting across from Marcia.

“Oh. I want to be the ExtraOrdinary,” Marcia said, as if it were obvious.

“Of course you do,” said Teya, “everyone does. But what are you actually going to do?”

“What are you doing?”

“I want to work in the Sick Bay, Raymond’s into Search and Rescue,” Dominic gestured to the boy sitting to the right of Marcia, “Teya’s wanted to do Charms since forever, and Pascalle and Thomasinn want to be Ordinaries.”

The twins, Pascalle and Thomasinn, waved from across the table.

“We all wanted to be ExtraOrdinaries at first,” Pascalle said with a smile, “but we settled.”

“Besides, Alther’s got an Apprentice already. He adores Silas.” Raymond shoveled another spoonful of hotpot stew into his mouth.

Thomasinn leaned over the table, not wanting people at surrounding tables to hear, “I heard he’s leaving.”

“What?” Dominic’s mouth widened in shock.

“Grace from the Sick Bay told me she overheard Silas say he wants to terminate his Apprenticeship because he can’t handle it anymore.”

“Plus, he has that kid. Simon, I think.” Pascalle added.

“Well, Marcia, I guess your dream isn’t shot. Yet.” Teya swung her fork a little too violently, and her carrot flew into a Senior Apprentice’s cloak. The Apprentice didn’t notice.

“But if anyone’s going to be the ExtraOrdinary, it’s probably Adrienne,” Raymond leaned in, making the Hopefuls look like they were in a penguin huddle.

“Yeah. Alther loves her, plus she’s got a book all of the time,” Teya rolled her eyes, “she’s practically a shoo-in.”

“I bet she knows a bunch of Apprentice stuff already, she just can’t say.” Pascalle added.

Marcia silently agreed. Adrienne did seem pretty focused on Magyk, but Marcia wasn’t about to give up her childhood dream. She stole a quick glance to the end of the table, but Adrienne seemed unbothered by the conversation, and seemed even more focused on the book in her lap.

“What did she tell you, Marcia?” Raymond asked, “She never tells us anything, but she seemed perfectly happy to talk to you.”

“Nothing, really, just some things about the Tower and being a Hopeful.”

“I’d be careful if I were you,” Teya said, “she’s all buddy-buddy now, just wait until someone offers her even a hint of an Apprenticeship. She’ll drop you like a hot potato.”

The conversation then turned to a nest of spiders Raymond had found in the broom closet, and Marcia went back to eating her stew until dinner had ended. The Hopefuls stood up, placed their dishes in the washing bin, and made their way to leave. Marcia walked outside the Tower, stopping at the courtyard arch to adjust her cloak.

“Where are you heading off to?” Marcia had hardly noticed that Adrienne had wandered over to her, her book tucked back into her cloak pocket.

“Home, I think. Is there something else I’m supposed to do?”

“Oh,” Adrienne looked flustered, “I meant to ask where your house is. So we could maybe walk home together, if you wanted to.”

Marcia wasn’t sure exactly why Adrienne was so interested in spending time with her, but despite what the other Hopefuls had said, Adrienne seemed genuinely interested in being friends.

“Sure, why not?” is what Marcia would have said, if Teya hadn’t grabbed her from behind.

“Sorry Adrienne,” Teya said, not sounding very sorry, “Brian needs me to do some _orientation_ stuff with Marcia. See you tomorrow.”

Teya grabbed Marcia’s hand and dragged her away, leaving a confused Adrienne to walk home alone.

Marcia didn’t even have time to discern what was going on before Teya led her quickly down a haphazard maze of side streets, past the East Gate Lookout Tower, and to a small beach along the Moat, where Raymond, Dominic, Pascalle, and Thomasinn were waiting.

“Hey Marcia,” said Dominic.

“What’s going on?” she asked, out of breath.

“Welcome to orientation,” Teya went to stand next to Raymond, grinning.

“Whoa,” Marcia began to step back, extending her arms in front of her, “you’re not going to push me in the water or something, are you?”

“What? No! We wouldn’t do that,” Thomasinn said, pulling a bag from her cloak, “we just sit and chat. If it’s warm, we go swimming.”

“Then why is it a secret?”

“We’re not supposed to be out this late,” Pascalle said, “especially not all together, outside the Tower, in a ‘potentially dangerous’ area. That’s why we couldn’t say anything, in case someone heard.”

“Okay,” Marcia slowly made her way back over to the group, who made room for her to sit on a piece of driftwood.

“FizzFroot?” Thomasinn asked Marcia, offering some of the sugary drinks.

“No, thank you,” Marcia didn’t particularly like FizzFroot.

The group distributed drinks and snacks, and someone lit a FlickFyre for added warmth and light.

“Why isn’t Adrienne here?” Marcia asked, after a few minutes.

“It doesn’t matter,” Raymond replied, “besides, she wouldn’t come anyway.”

“She’d just read the whole time.” Pascalle said.

Marcia sat in silence, wondering what the big deal with Adrienne was, anyway. She looked normal, she seemed normal, and besides her faster than average consumption of reading material, there wasn’t anything particularly threatening about her.

As if to answer her question, Dominic turned to Marcia and said “y’know, we don’t dislike Adrienne, right? She’s actually pretty cool if you get to know her. I joined last year, and she hung out with me until I really got on with the group. It’s just Teya, really.”

“Then why don’t you leave Teya?” Marcia kept her voice down.

“Because she’s pretty cool, too. We’re just like a family, and Adrienne’s the cousin who shows up every MidWinter Feast Day and then leaves.”

“Hmm,” Teya eyed Marcia quizzically, her green eyes glowing in the firelight, “we do actually have to do something to orient you. Something Magykal.”

“Ooh, make her turn the fire purple!” Raymond suggested.

“Or write her name in sparkles!” Pascalle added.

“Or an UnSeen,” Dominic said.

“Yeah,” Teya grinned, “an UnSeen. You can do that, right, Miss ExtraOrdinary? Or is it too hard for you?”

“Of course I can,” Marcia scoffed. 

“Then do it,” Teya glanced at Raymond, who giggled.

Marcia, not to be made a fool of, decided she would not only do an UnSeen, but do it silently. She closed her eyes, focused, and without saying a word, she vanished. She stood up, and looked around.

It was amazing what people will do when they think no one is looking. Marcia stifled a groan as Raymond dropped a piece of biscuit on the floor, pick it up, and eat it. But Marcia’s attention turned from Raymond when she saw a small blue speck out of the corner of her eye. It was a person, standing on the edge of the beach, in full view of everyone. A closer look revealed that it was a familiar face. Marcia took a step towards Adrienne, who looked up in shock.

”What’re you doing here?” Marcia mouthed.

”Don’t say anything,” Adrienne responded, her eyes full of fear.

“Whoa,” Thomasinn said, drawing Marcia back to the group, “she’s good.”

“Someone tell Adrienne she’s got competition,” said Raymond.

“Yeah, she can do one silent spell. I’m so impressed.” Teya’s voice was laced with sarcasm. Marcia fought back the urge to smack her upside the head with a piece of driftwood. Instead, she reappeared, and sat back down next to Dominic. Looking around, she saw that Adrienne had vanished. It dawned on Marcia that Adrienne must have been using the same UnSeen as she had.

“Was that enough for you?” Marcia asked.

“For now,” Teya said.

“That was pretty good,” Dominic whispered to Marcia, “I didn’t know people could just do silent spells like that.”

“Thanks,” Marcia replied.

“But I would be careful if I were you. Teya would push you into the Moat without hesitation, and Raymond would too, if she told him too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Marcia smiled, then turned to Teya, “is this over?”

“Sure. Go home, Miss ExtraOrdinary. Best not miss your curfew.”

With that, Marcia stood, but not before tripping over a piece of driftwood and falling face first into a sandbank. She pulled herself up, briskly walking away from the group, until she was back inside the Castle. Taking a look at herself in a puddle beneath a brightly lit torch, she grimaced to see that her brand new cloak was covered in sand, water stains, and more than a little mud. She pulled Adrienne’s book out from her pocket, and muttered the still-bookmarked 60 Second Dry Clean Spell as she walked, until she reached an entrance to the Ramblings with a spotless cloak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure exactly where this is going to go, but hopefully working through the less-interesting chapters will allow me to get to a good plot.


	3. Melts and Freezes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia arrives at the Wizard Tower early and helps some other Hopefuls with a snowy project.

Marcia Overstrand left her room in the Ramblings early the next morning, the frosty air nipping at her nose as she stepped out onto the snow-sparkled buildings of Wizard Way. The torches along the Way were slowly fizzling out as the sun began to peek out from behind the horizon. Marcia walked quickly, her much hated boring brown boots tapping purposefully on the densely packed snow. She longed to stop and look at the beautiful displays in the shop windows, but she wanted to be at the Wizard Tower as quickly as possible.

Marcia expected to be the only Hopeful there when she passed under the Great Arch, but to her surprise, there were four others already in the courtyard. Pascalle, Thomasinn, and Dominic appeared to be playing with snow in the corner, and Adrienne, per usual, was perched on the courtyard wall. Marcia wondered how she managed to not fall off. She began to make her way over to Adrienne, then stopped.

Remembering Teya’s words from the night before, Marcia curtly turned away from Adrienne, who, if upset, masked it extremely well, and walked over to the group in the corner.

“Hi Marcia!” Dominic chirped.

“Good morning,” Marcia replied, taking a look at the group. Dominic looked to be shoveling snow out of a decently sized hole, while Thomasinn and Pascalle gathered it into small mounds. “What are you doing?”

“We’re making an ice rink,” Pascalle said, “we’re digging out a hole, and then we’ll Melt the snow so the hole fills with water, and then we’ll Freeze it. Would you like to help us?”

Marcia was unsure about the success of the plan, and found the ideas rather juvenile for a group of teenagers, but she agreed to help. She crouched to the ground, careful to keep her cloak dry, and began shoveling snow out of the hole. With two people working, they finished much faster than Dominic could on his own.

“Do you know any Melts, Marcia?” Thomasinn asked, “or Freezes?”

“I can Melt,” Marcia said.

“So can I,” said Pascalle, “and Thomasinn.”

“I only know Melts, too,” Dominic added, “if no one knows how to Freeze, then what do we do?”

Locking eyes, the four of them had a simultaneous realization.

“I’d bet a half crown that Adrienne’s read about Freezes before,” Dominic said, looking over at her.

“I can Freeze, too,” a scoff came from behind them. No one had noticed Teya and Raymond approaching, but the group swiveled around at the sound of Teya’s voice.

“You can? Could you help us then?” Pascalle asked.

“Depends. What do you want?”

“We’re making an ice rink. We need someone to Freeze the water after we Melt it.” Dominic pointed to the small mounds of snow.

“I’d expect Miss ExtraOrdinary to be able to do it, but sure, I’ll help. Adrienne’s not the only one who can do Magyk, you know.” Teya joined them at the edge of the hole. Raymond kept a distance, not knowing how to do Melts or Freezes.

While Teya tried to recall the words needed for a Freeze, everyone else grabbed a handful of snow, and holding it above the hole, performed Melts. Marcia’s Melt was flawless, but she was surprised at the quality of her fellow Hopeful’s abilities to create clear, warm water. As soon as the hole was full, Teya remembered the Freeze, and soon, there was a hole full of shimmering blue ice. Teya smiled.

No one had brought ice skates, so instead of skating, the group just slipped awkwardly around the rink until someone had the idea to have a snowball fight on ice. Twenty minutes later, when the Hopefuls were called in for their morning Magyk class, Marcia was cold and slightly bruised, but so happy to walk in surrounded by her newfound friends that she hardly noticed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going somewhere, promise.  
> (also, I have a tumblr @extra-ordinary-wizard, there’s nothing there right now but maybe there is in the future, I guess)


	4. Out of Courtesy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A coffee pot is enchanted, a cloak gets ruined with eggs, and maybe a friend is made. And the plot is going to go somewhere in the next chapter, promise.

It was apparent to anyone who watched that Marcia Overstrand was determined. Many children grow up wanting to be an ExtraOrdinary Wizard, but dismiss it and settle for a mundane Castle job, or an Ordinary Apprenticeship if they’re lucky. But Marcia’s desire to be a Wizard went farther than a childhood dream. Accompanying her parents, who were intrepid travelers, she collected books and charms from everywhere she went, reading about and practicing Magyk in the late-night hours when even the Ramblings were silent. And now, she was finally able to publicly show her Magyk by enchanting a coffee pot to work on its own, much to the delight of the other Hopefuls gathered around her.

The coffee pot, which seemed rather tetchy, reluctantly poured its steaming contents into a ceramic mug, to which Marcia added a modest helping of cream. She took a sip and smiled. It was perfect.

The other Hopefuls, including Teya, who had feigned disinterest, and Adrienne, who had already enchanted her kitchen item, a toaster, three days before Marcia’s arrival, clapped.

“That’s lovely, Marcia,” Adrienne said with a smile.

“It really is,” Raymond sulked, “d’you think you could help me?” Raymond’s egg-frying pan tended to fling raw eggs across the room rather than cook them, much to the disgust of a now egg-covered Pascalle.

“Sure,” Marcia, high off of her public success, made her way to Raymond’s desk, while Adrienne began trying to remove Pascalle’s cloak of egg yolks.

After a few hours, multiple Sixty Second Dry Clean Spells, and a lunch break complete with six Hopefuls drinking coffee (one had tea), Raymond’s frying pan made scrambled eggs, albeit poor quality ones. Raymond wrapped the eggs up to take home, and the kitchen appliances were carefully placed into the classroom closet as the Hopefuls packed their things and prepared to go home. Marcia was prepped and ready to walk home with Dominic, who lived in a small house near Marcia’s entrance to the Ramblings, when she remembered Adrienne’s book sitting patiently in her cloak pocket. Reluctantly, she made her way over to Adrienne, who was tying her boots by the Tower door.

“Oh, hello Marcia,” Adrienne looked at her shoes to hide her smile, “how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Marcia stopped abruptly, as if she were going to add something, but didn’t.

“Well, do you need something from me?” Adrienne stood up, feeling small besides Marcia, who was at least three inches taller than her.

“I was going to give your book back.”

“Oh. Wonderful. You live in the Ramblings too, right? We can go back together.”

Marcia agreed, telling herself it was just out of courtesy. It wouldn’t hurt to be friendly, she thought, better to have Adrienne as a friend than as an enemy. The two of them pulled their cloaks tightly around themselves and stepped outside. It was still quite cold, but the air felt warmer than it had been in the morning. Marcia looked over at the ice rink, which still stood, surrounded by various snowmen, piles of snowballs, and the beginnings of a fort that had been made during a particularly playful afternoon break.

“You guys made all of that?” Adrienne asked, following Marcia’s gaze.

“Yeah. It was Raymond, mostly. I made the two snowmen in the corner.” Marcia didn’t elaborate.

Neither Marcia nor Adrienne were good at making casual conversation, so the walk home was mostly filled with silence as the two walked down Wizard Way, pausing to look at the displays Marcia had passed over that morning. Marcia admired the torches, which were being carefully lit by Maizie Smalls, who was making her way down the street. Though both girls felt as if everyone were staring at them, no one paid them any attention. It was quite normal for passerby to see two Hopefuls walking together down the Way, as they frequently travelled in groups. And after a few minutes, when the pair turned off of Wizard Way and onto a smaller, less crowded street, Marcia felt the awkwardness lift off her shoulders. The silence became companionable, and Marcia stepped closer to Adrienne to better fit on the smaller sidewalk.

“Marcia,” Adrienne said, breaking the silence, “do you enjoy being a Hopeful?”

“Yes,” she replied, “you’re all quite nice. You enjoy it too, don’t you?”

“I guess,” Adrienne sighed, “but I’ve been waiting for three years, and I don’t even know what I’m holding on for. But I do love being at the Tower. I’m not upset.”

Adrienne smiled, as if she hadn’t said anything. As she stepped into the warmly lit entrance of the Ramblings, she stopped.

“Where is your room, exactly?” She asked, not wanting to make Marcia go out of her way.

“Topsy-Turvy Bend,” Marcia said, “it’s a big brown door.”

Marcia suppressed a giggle. When she’d occasionally attended the small school in the Ramblings, the others had called her Boring Brown Door Marcia, referencing her unadorned door, which was seen as quite unusual. It had hurt at the time, but Marcia found it quite funny now.

“...Lovely,” Adrienne, who had been incoherently trying to string a sentence together for some time, brought Marcia back to reality, “I live near that.”

The two turned left into the complicated maze of rooms, looking out for other pedestrians and the occasional rolling cart. The homey feel of the Ramblings allowing for the two to finally break into pleasant conversation about growing up in the Castle. Adrienne was just finishing an anecdote of a neighbor boy falling into a well when she stopped outside a small door in a yellow archway.

“This is my room,” she said, “you’re welcome to stop in, um, if you want.”

Not wanting to be rude, Marcia watched as Adrienne unlocked the door, and followed her when she stepped inside. Inside was a cozy room, complete with a small kitchen, fireplace, and bedroom. Off of the kitchen was a small curtained off area. No one seemed to be home.

“Tea?” Adrienne offered, gesturing to a small teapot in the kitchen.

“Oh, no thank you. Here’s your book.” Marcia handed over the small spellbook.

“Thank you,” Adrienne slipped the book into the curtained-off area, and a glimpse behind the curtain let Marcia see that the area contained a small bed, end table, and an obscene amount of books.

“Gosh,” Adrienne fiddled with her hair, “this is probably weird for you, isn’t it? Sorry. Don’t let me keep you.” Adrienne led Marcia to the door. “Thank you for stopping by. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The two exchanged goodbyes, and Marcia made her way down the corridor towards her own, albeit less cozy, room, a feeling of comfort washing over her. She hadn’t realised how tired she was until she was bundled into her bed, her cloak hanging on a peg by her head. She fell asleep with a smile on her face, and when she woke up early the next morning, she found herself waiting outside of Adrienne’s door, a book of charms from the Land of the Long Nights in her hands, planning to share the book and the morning walk to the Wizard Tower with her. Out of courtesy, or course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters 3 and 4 were written together, and the events happen on the same day, but I decided to split them up in post so I wouldn’t have one super long, kinda disconnected chapter.  
> (another tumblr plug @extra-ordinary-wizard)


	5. Fly Free With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrienne receives a mysterious summons, and Marcia’s quite shocked at what happens when she tags along.

Over the next two months, if you had asked Marcia, she’d tell you that she and Adrienne had developed what one may call a utility friendship. They met in the morning to exchange books and pleasantries, then walked to the Wizard Tower together. Besides the occasional question or group pairing in Magyk classes, they didn’t speak, which was fine for them both. Adrienne seemed to enjoy solitude and Marcia got along fine with the other Hopefuls. Then, as the sun set below the Castle walls, Adrienne and Marcia would walk home together.

Silas Heap, Alther Mella’s Apprentice, did indeed leave to spend more time with his family, and Alther had yet to appoint a new Apprentice when the Big Thaw set in, melting away the winter snow to reveal patches of green around the Castle. Marcia and Adrienne had both been vying for the open spot, but neither seemed to be competing against the other.

Adrienne kept up as she usually did, excelling in her classes, and reading during every free moment. Though she had never explicitly expressed the want to be the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, Marcia knew she wanted it. Adrienne smiled whenever Alther entered the room, and Marcia could see her quasi-friend was working extra hard when Alther was present.

Marcia began working at double speed, managing to complete tasks that had been set for the other Hopefuls long before she had arrived. While she didn’t believe in showing off, she took every opportunity to use the most advanced spell she knew when allotted. To an outsider, it looked as if Marcia was an extremely quick learner full of immense talent. To Marcia, it was a combination of sleepless nights spent practicing spells, reading books, and enchanting household objects (much to the anger of her mother, who got the unfortunate surprise of waking up one morning to an enchanted alarm clock fond of screaming rude words. Marcia was still in trouble for that). Marcia was overworked and exhausted, but she was going to be the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice if it killed her.

One Saturday morning, when the Ramblings rooftop gardens were beginning to bloom, Marcia and Adrienne were sitting together by the fireplace in Adrienne’s room. After the awkward visit on Marcia’s second day, Adrienne had refrained from suggesting any formal meet-ups between the two, but Marcia had received a large index in the mail and wished to share it. Adrienne didn’t hesitate before inviting Marcia over on their day off.

A mug of ginger tea in her hands, Marcia reread a page on ancient healing spells. Many of them she already knew about: mending a cut, setting a bone, detecting poison; but some she had never heard of. She didn’t quite understand how one could revive a person simply by breathing on them, something the book didn’t understand either, because it chose to refer to a different book rather than explain the spell.

“I think I saw someone use the anti-fever spell once,” Adrienne mused, deep in thought.

“Really?” Marcia asked, “how did it go?”

“Okay, I think. The kid lived. You’d have to ask my mum, though, she’d remember better than me.”

Marcia noticed that a lot of Adrienne’s responses often included some form of asking her mother, whom Marcia had yet to see.

“How old were you?”

“Seven,” Adrienne replied, “the boy went to school with me. He got a really bad fever, and his parents freaked out, so they called in an Ordinary. He came back to class two days later, right as rain. Speaking of which, you went to school here, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.”

“Which one? It just seems odd that we live so close together but have never met.”

“School Nine. But my parents liked to travel a lot. We were in the Eastern SnowPlains for a few years. I didn’t get back until right before coming to the Tower.”

“Wait,” Adrienne paused, “you’re not Boring Brown Door Marcia, are you? I went to School Ten, and they mentioned her all the time.”

“They did? What did they say?” Marcia was worried.

“They talked a ton about all the things she’d bring home, and how she’d correct all the history lessons with things she learned,” Adrienne made air quotes, “‘from the source’.”

“I did not!” Marcia gasped, but soon found herself laughing, and Adrienne joined in.

“It’s okay,” Adrienne said with flushed cheeks, “my teacher used to yell at me because I’d read ahead, and when she’d tell us what spell we were covering that day, I would do it right then.”

“Goodness, really?”

“Yeah.” Adrienne stopped, and focused on the window.

“Adrienne, don’t be embarrassed.”

“I’m not-I mean, I’m embarrassed, but not-there’s a rat at the window.”

Marcia looked over. Sitting in the window, just as Adrienne had said, was a tubby grey rat, beckoning to be let in. Adrienne got up to open it, and the rat scampered onto the end table next to the couch.

“Speeke, Rattus Rattus,” Adrienne said, hoping she had gotten the words right.

The rat cleared its throat, “erm, hello. I am a Chartered Confidential Rat from the Castle Message Rat Service. Is Miss Adrienne McNamara present?”

“This is she,” said Adrienne. She moved to sit on the couch where the rat could see her, “what is the message?”

“The message in question is from one Brian Potts, Ordinary Wizard. Message is as follows: Dear Miss McNamara, I would appreciate your presence at the Wizard Tower at midday today to discuss some important business. Best wishes, Brian. Message ends. The sender has not asked for a reply.”

Adrienne nodded, “thank you, um-“

“Theodore. It was a pleasure, Miss McNamara.”

“Just Adrienne will do, thank you. UnSpeeke, Rattus, Rattus.”

With Adrienne’s UnSpeeke, the rat went silent, and Adrienne let him back out of the window.

“Midday? Oh bother,” said Adrienne, looking at the clock in the kitchen, “that’s so soon.”

“You’d best be going now,” Marcia said, detecting notes of worry in Adrienne’s voice.

“Would you like to walk with me?” Adrienne asked. Marcia felt inclined to say yes. She wanted to know why Adrienne had been summoned on a Saturday, and why she had been singled out. But Marcia also didn’t want to impede.

“Marcia,” Adrienne said, almost as if she could read Marcia’s thoughts, “you’re not impeding. I want a friend there.”

Marcia could tell Adrienne took her moment of shock the wrong way, and while Adrienne stumbled to retract what she had said, Marcia placed a steady hand on her shoulder.

“I would enjoy that,” Marcia smiled, “but we’ve got to go now.”

Adrienne pulled her Hopeful cloak around her shoulders, and tossed her spare forest green cloak to Marcia. Marcia didn’t care much for the color, but the cloak was warm and smelled of ginger, so she bit back her complaints. Leaving her book on the counter, she led Adrienne out of the yellow archway and into the Ramblings hall.

It was rather busy, being a Saturday morning, and the two girls resorted to pushing their way through a crowd of busybodies and passers-by. Marcia grabbed onto Adrienne’s hand as to not lose her, and artfully weaved her way through the throng of people, not stopping until they were standing in the open air of Gold Button Drop, the small road off of the Ramblings entrance.

“You good?” Marcia turned to ask a flushed Adrienne.

“Yeah, let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”

The two ran quickly down Gold Button Drop and turned onto Wizard Way, knocking into a Manuscriptorium clerk tacking a flyer to the door.

“Sorry!” Adrienne called over her shoulder to the clerk, a pudgy girl about Teya’s age. If the girl gave a response, Adrienne was already too far away to hear it.

“Goodness, Jillie, what happened?” a scribe poked his head out of the Manuscriptorium door.

“I was hit by a child. Age sixteen or seventeen, I assume. Moving at about nine kilometers per hour.” With a scoff, Jillie Djinn began to pick up the discarded papers, calculating how long it would take her to finish decorating the door after the setback.

It was three minutes before midday when Marcia and Adrienne raced through the Great Arch into the empty Wizard Tower courtyard. Stumbling up the steps, Marcia spoke the password between heavy breaths, then jumped out of the way to avoid the swinging doors. Marcia and Adrienne rushed across the floor, which shifted to read _Happy Saturday, Hopefuls_ , and came to a stop in front of the stairs, which were moving in the opposite direction. Adrienne took the opportunity to attempt to put her hair back into place.

“No, stop Adrienne, you’re making it worse.” Marcia began tucking Adrienne’s hair back, then with a sigh, pulled her purple hair ribbon from her own hair and used it to tie Adrienne’s long hair back into a ponytail. Even without a ribbon holding the curls down, Marcia’s hair was still perfectly in place, and with hair tied back, Adrienne looked considerably more put-together.

“You should consider tying it back more often,” Marcia said, “it wouldn’t blow everywhere as much.”

“Thanks,” Adrienne sounded a mix of grateful and annoyed. The stairs began to rotate upward, and the two girls stepped on.

“So what do you think Brian summoned you for?” Marcia asked.

“I’m not sure, really,” Adrienne thought for a moment, “maybe something class-related? My last assignment wasn’t great.”

Marcia thought Adrienne’s assignment was near-perfect, but she bit her tongue.

“Or maybe there’s another Hopeful? I don’t know why there would be, though. We don’t have an Apprentice shortage,” Adrienne nervously prattled on, “or maybe I’m being let go?”

Adrienne stopped, her face going pale.

“No, don’t be silly,” Marcia said dismissively. The stairs reached the seventeenth floor, and she and Adrienne stepped off. Marcia checked her timepiece. Midday exactly. She gave Adrienne what she hoped was an encouraging glance and sat down on the bench by the door, prepared to wait. Adrienne hesitated before knocking on the door.

“Just do it, Adrienne. You’ll be fine.” Marcia said with a sigh.

Adrienne knocked, and a moment later, Brian opened the door.

“Miss McNamara, how lovely to see you. And good afternoon to you too, Miss Overstrand,” Brian said, waving at Marcia, “come in, Miss McNamara.”

Brian ushered Adrienne in and swiftly closed the door.

Marcia sat on her own outside the door for a few minutes, then, unable to help herself, she began a simple Projection. She was so busy watching her Projected timepiece spin its hands rapidly that she didn’t notice someone had joined her on the landing until he was sitting on the bench next to her.

“Good afternoon, Miss Overstrand,” came the voice of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard.

“Oh, um, good afternoon, Mr Mella, goodness,” flustered, Marcia looked up, her Projection vanishing.

“Just Alther will suffice, dear,” Alther smiled, “that was a nice Projection. Quite impressive for someone your age.”

“Thank you,” Marcia put on a facade of confidence, “and Marcia will suffice as well.”

“Well, Marcia, I have been looking for you, believe it or not.”

Marcia had the fleeting worry that she, like Adrienne, might be asked to leave.

Alther caught Marcia’s shocked expression. “It’s nothing bad, dear, don’t worry.”

Marcia sighed in relief.

“I’ve heard wonderful things about you. Your performance in our program has been simply exemplary. As such, I have seen a great amount of hard work and determination come from you. Your friend, Miss McNamara, would agree, would she not?”

Marcia nodded, confused.

“But I digress. I am, quite plainly, impressed. I have seen many talented Hopefuls in the past, but none quite as driven as you, Marcia. I know it seems a bit up front, but I would like to offer you something.” Alther handed Marcia a small Charm of beautiful silver wings. Marcia held it in her hands, trying to be as gentle as possible. Holding it up to the light, she read the words inscribed on the Charm: ‘fly free with me’. Upon reading the words, Marcia found herself hovering a few inches off the ground. She gasped, her insides filling with panic, and she dropped to the ground.

“Wow,” Marcia gasped, “I didn’t know that would happen.”

Alther laughed. “I hope you will take it, as well as my offer of Apprenticeship.”

Marcia’s insides were doing back handsprings as her mind raced to comprehend that fact that she had just been offered an Apprenticeship, and one to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, no less. But without letting the facade fade, Marcia gave a collected “yes” to Alther.

“Lovely,” he said, “I shall see you tonight back here for your Apprentice Supper. Your family is welcome to attend. And perfect timing, I’m sure Mr Potts would enjoy hearing the news.”

Marcia turned to see Brian’s door opening, a beet-red but smiling Adrienne stepping out from behind it. Alther waved at Marcia, then stepped into the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

“Adrienne, are you okay?” Marcia asked, slipping her Charm into the green cloak’s pocket.

“Yes, I’m-well-I’m wonderful. Marcia, Brian just offered me an Apprenticeship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we’re back to long chapters again, aren’t we.  
> I think this one ends up formatted slightly different from the other chapters, so I apologize. I write these in Google Docs and paste them over, and things just transfer weird sometimes.


	6. First Projection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia encounters her first real test as an Apprentice, and her nerves (and temper) have Alther more than a little worried.

Marcia claimed she wasn’t nervous for her first Projection, but Alther Mella was skeptical, at the least. A year had been plenty of time for him to get to know his new Apprentice, and he could tell when Marcia was hiding feelings of panic.

Alther had no fears about Marcia’s performance, she had mastered Projections years ago, and while her self-taught technique required a bit of tweaking, she was still much more advanced than most were at the Projection stage in an Apprenticeship. He was much more worried about her temper, though he wasn’t going to say anything.

Marcia had been silent riding down the stairs, her face a look of stony determination, but a close look could discern the flashes of panic in her bright green eyes. Alther smiled at his Apprentice.

“Are you nervous?” he asked.

“Of course not,” Marcia’s tone was clipped.

“Don’t worry about your Projection, dear,” Alther placed a hand on Marcia’s shoulder. She tensed, but said nothing, “no one expects perfection.”

Marcia muttered something unintelligible, then stepped off of the steps. She gave Alther a forced smile, then stepped into the small Projection room.

Alther traveled to the Great Hall, where Ordinary Wizards and Apprentices were beginning to gather. The ExtraOrdinary Apprentice’s first Projection was always a big deal, and Tower residents made a day of milling about the Great Hall and trying to spot the Projection. Alther smiled at the fond memory of his own Projection, which had involved stealing his master — DomDaniel —’s hat, and Projecting a fake one onto his head. DomDaniel had gotten quite angry upon learning what Alther had done, but all of the Wizards made sure to tell Alther how amusing it was (when DomDaniel wasn’t around, of course).

Marcia gave no clues about what she was planning to Project, which was protocol, as the Projection was always meant to be a complete surprise. But Alther was slightly worried that Marcia, unlike other nervous Apprentices in the past, expressed no feelings towards the Projection at all. Rather, she became quite tetchy, briskly changing the subject whenever it was brought up, even snapping at one well-meaning sub-Wizard to  _ shut up, won’t they? _ .

“Good morning, ExtraOrdinary,” said Endor, one of the more senior Ordinaries, “Marcia all ready for her Projection?”

“Quite,” Alther smiled, “I’m sure you all will be very impressed.”

Over the next few minutes, more Wizards entered the Great Hall, which filled with excited chatter, and more than a few illicitly placed bets (many people were certain the Projection would have something to do with a garishly bright hat someone had left by the doors). Alther meandered around the Hall, making pleasant small talk with various Wizards, sub-Wizards, and Apprentices, and making a mental note of items in the room. The clock struck 7:13, and the room went silent.

The Projection had begun.

Remembering the advice he had given Marcia (think small and easily overlooked), Alther stood at the base of the stairs and looked around the room. Some participants were on hands and knees, checking items and objects for tiny details, but Alther knew he needed to maintain an air of professionalism, and the stairs made for a good vantage point.

After a few minutes, most Wizards gave up and left, planning to come back later to see Marcia reveal her Projection, or to just hear it from a friend afterward, but a few of the more determined Wizards stayed. The now-less-crowded Hall made it easier for Alther to look around, and after a minute or two, he caught sight of a small book by the foot of the stairs, almost fully obscured by a wooden bench. Alther would’ve missed it entirely, for the book’s cover was brown and so worn that the text had rubbed away, if it weren’t for a scrap of paper being used as a bookmark. Peeking over the top edge was a small amount of neat handwriting, which was, in true Projection form, backward. Alther smiled; a book was something not often picked, and a book with no cover text would be quite hard to discern, and easily overlooked. Marcia was much more clever than he had thought.

There were only three minutes left of the Projection, and Alther was confident that Marcia was going to finish undetected. That is, until the book began to flicker. Alther’s forehead creased with worry. What was going on? Marcia normally had an iron focus, and distractions and emotions tended to increase her focus, not diminish it. Alther made an unnoticeable move to the left so that he was covering the bench, knowing that if the other Wizards noticed, they would most definitely heckle Marcia about it, which would only make her crabbier, and Alther would never hear the end of it either. He nervously counted down the seconds, hoping the book, which was blinking in and out of existence, wouldn’t fully disappear.

And it didn’t. With thirty seconds left, the Projection ceased blinking and maintained a steady appearance until time was called, and a collective groan came from the group of Wizards, who blamed their failure on poor lighting and missing spectacles when recalling the event later. Alther looked expectantly at the stairs, which had begun to turn downward, and soon enough, a stone-faced Marcia, looking imposing in her green Apprentice tunic, emerged.

The crowd in the Great Hall erupted in applause, and Marcia stepped down next to her Projection. She gestured toward the book, and it vanished. The crowd gasped. They had been fooled.

“Well down, Apprentice!” came a bold voice from the crowd, causing a chorus of congratulations and praise to fill the room, along with a few disgruntled scoffs from people who were upset to have been thwarted.

“Yes, Marcia, that was excellent,” Alther said, “let us go upstairs, and we can discuss your results.”

Alther expected a happy Marcia on the ride to the twentieth floor, but Marcia seemed rather annoyed, and Alther knew better than to ask why. After stepping past the big purple door into Alther’s sitting room, Marcia slumped into her favorite purple armchair. Alther sighed.

“I meant what I said, Marcia. Your Projection was excellent.”

“Don’t be silly, Alther, you saw it glitch.” Marcia said tersely.

“It was probably just nerves, dear. Everyone messes up spells sometimes, you’re only learning. And no one noticed.”

“Because you sat right in front of it.” Marcia sighed, “I don’t need to be babied, Alther. I’m eighteen. I won’t improve if you coddle me while letting everyone else think I’m some legendary Wizard. I’m not some seventh son of a seventh son.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. But being tetchy won’t solve your problems, Marcia. I can’t work with you if you act as if you’re some sort of impenetrable wall.”

“I’m not tetchy!” Marcia stopped, hearing the scoff in her voice, “Okay, maybe I’m a little tetchy. I’m sorry. You’re right, it must just be nerves.”

Alther disagreed, but smiled.

“We’re all a bit frazzled. Why don’t we take lunch early and go for a walk around the Castle?”

“Lunch? But it’s 7:30am.”

“It’ll be a long lunch, then.”

Alther donned his summer cloak, and gestured for Marcia to do the same, and together, the two of them made their way down into the Great Hall. Stepping outside, Alther smiled. It was a lovely June day, and he reckoned that the weather would be perfect for Marcia’s upcoming birthday. Marcia seemed to enjoy the weather too, and by the time Wizard and Apprentice had finished their walk around the Castle walls, Marcia seemed to be much more relaxed.


	7. Hide and Go Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alther takes Marcia on an early morning outing to do some Feeling practice, and someone familiar ends up tagging along.

Marcia Overstrand quite liked Thursdays. There was still enough of the week left to get things done, but the looming presence of the weekend hovered in her face like a carrot dangling from a stick. Things just seemed to get done on Thursdays. And that day was no exception.

Marcia finished dusting the last corner of the Pyramid Library and climbed down the ladder into Alther’s small sitting room below. Misjudging her final step, she tripped over the bottom rung and hurried to catch herself and stand back up, her face turning beet red even though the room was empty. Wiping the dust off of her Apprentice tunic, Marcia stopped to look out the window into the Wizard Tower courtyard below.

It was a beautiful October morning, and the trees were turning breathtaking shades of reds and oranges. Marcia reminisced of the previous summer, which had seemed to fly by. Most of it had been spent indoors, reading, writing, and practicing charms, but Marcia didn’t mind. She had traveled to countless places over the years, but the Wizard Tower was the first to feel like home.

Marcia watched the sun rise over the Castle walls, painting the buildings beautiful shades of yellow. She peeked at the courtyard, where the small group of Hopefuls began to gather. The gang of teens in their periwinkle cloaks looked incomplete with only four members. Marcia and Adrienne had been Apprentices for almost a year and a half, Teya had long since aged out of the program, and a new Hopeful had yet to join. Marcia wasn’t sure why, and she wasn’t about to ask. 

Marcia turned at the sound of a door opening, and saw her tutor, Alther Mella, enter the sitting room.

“Good morning, Marcia,” he said with a smile.

“Good morning Alther,” Marcia replied.

“Grab your cloak, dear,” Alther looked mischievous, “we’re going out.”

“What, exactly, are we doing Alther?” Marcia asked as she rode down the Tower stairs, tossing her curls over her shoulder. Marcia had grown up keeping her hair pinned back in ponytails and buns, but had decided to wear it down after multiple comments that tying her hair back made her look like a boy.

“Just some Feeling practice, dear,” Alther took a sip from a purple coffee mug, a gift from Alice Nettles, “all of your reading won’t help you if you’ve never actually tried to do it.”

Marcia wondered who there would be to Feel at such an early hour, but she was too tired to ask questions.

“Oh, you probably need to eat, don’t you?” Alther said, a look of realization on his face. He pulled a pastry from his cloak and handed it to Marcia.

“Do you always keep snacks on you?” Marcia gave the pastry a suspicious look, but bit into it anyway. It was delicious.

“No,” Alther muttered, looking at the treat with longing, “that was my breakfast.”

Wizard and Apprentice stepped off of the stairs and onto the Great Hall floor, which shifted to read it’s predictable  _ Good Morning ExtraOrdinary. Good Morning Apprentice. _ Marcia smiled. She always enjoyed seeing that. Looking around, she saw that the Hall was, as expected, mostly empty. Besides the occasional early riser or Wizard returning from a night Watch, there was no one worth noting in the foyer. Except for one girl sitting on a bench reading a book, her strawberry-blonde hair tied in a neat braid with Marcia’s favorite purple ribbon.

“Adrienne?” Marcia asked, now wide awake. Adrienne gave Marcia a timid smile. Marcia returned it with a glare.

“Oh, right,” Alther said, “I needed a second Apprentice for your practice, and she jumped at the opportunity. She’s quite bright, you know. Reminds me of you.”

Marcia thought Adrienne’s spacey personality and timid demeanor was quite unlike her own, but Adrienne was, admittedly, better than the other Apprentices her age. Marcia made a point not to engage with other Apprentices. Most of them adopted a bristly attitude toward her the second she took the ExtraOrdinary spot, and the rest acted more like followers, more desperate for attention than friendship. Adrienne, unlike either camp, was a third thing, absent. If Marcia spent lots of time working, Adrienne never stopped. Ever her complexion, which was normally quite rosy, resembled that of an uncooked loaf of bread. Besides occasional passings-by, during which the simplest of pleasantries were exchanged, Marcia hadn’t spoken to any of her friends from her time as a Hopeful.

But if Adrienne could tell that her old classmates were being frosty to her, she didn’t seem to care. She still gave everyone warm smiles and friendly waves, regardless of their response, including Marcia, who had yet to say anything besides a brisk ‘hello’. But ever since the two had become Apprentices, no effort had been made to keep the fragile friendship afloat, and the two had drifted apart with some bitterness, at least on Marcia’s end.

Alther led the two Apprentices outside the Tower and down a myriad of empty streets to a desolate corner of the Castle, which had a collection of old houses that had sat unoccupied since before Alther was born. No one was quite sure why the buildings were empty or why they hadn’t been removed, but Marcia quite suspected it had something to do with witches.

“Okay ladies,” Alther stopped in front of a squat cottage with faded green shutters, “I assumed you’re wondering why I’ve brought you here.”

“Yes, we are,” Marcia pulled her cloak tighter around her. Adrienne stepped closer to her to conserve heat, earning her a side-eye from Marcia, but no effort to step away.

“Adrienne, Brian tells me you know how to Feel, yes?” Alther asked.

“Yes, sir, I do,” Adrienne looked nervous.

“Excellent. I would like you to demonstrate for Marcia, please. I am going to Transport to somewhere in the vicinity, and you will Feel where I am.”

Marcia didn’t think she needed a demonstration. She had read about Feelings before, and she didn’t think it would be too hard to demonstrate. But she decided to humor Alther.

“Alright, then,” Marcia said, “let’s do this.”

Alther vanished in a shimmer or purple, and reappeared somewhere Marcia couldn’t see. She turned expectantly toward Adrienne.

“Okay. Show me how to Feel, then.”

“Okay.” Adrienne closed her eyes, Feeling for a heartbeat to follow. Marcia was well aware that the presence of walls made Feeling difficult, but even so, felt that Adrienne was taking a ridiculously long time. Marcia closed her own eyes, attempting to Feel for herself.

“Marcia?” Marcia opened her eyes to see Adrienne standing in front of a door some twenty feet away. “Are you okay? Alther’s this way.”

Marcia made her way over to Adrienne. “He’s in here?”

“I think so,” Adrienne paused, “you didn’t think I’d be able to Feel him, did you?”

Marcia said nothing, and pushed open the door.

“That’s okay,” Adrienne said, “Ordinary Apprentices normally don’t learn until their third year. Brian’s just changed the order of things. C’mon. I think he’s upstairs.”

Marcia pulled her FlashLight from her Apprentice belt and shone the light onto the small front hall. The room, although dark and obviously uninhabited, was quite clean. There was no clutter, no mess, no dank smell, just dust, which Marcia batted away. She had had enough dust for the day.

Adrienne led Marcia towards a small staircase, big enough for only one person to walk at a time, even if they were as small as Adrienne.

“So, Marcia,” Adrienne attempted to make small talk, “how’s your Apprenticeship going?”

“Well, thank you,” Marcia kept her tone profesional, yet polite, “how’s yours?”

“It’s nice, I guess. Brian’s like a second dad, and I’ve learned a lot. But I’ve missed having Saturdays off. It’s silly, I know.”

“No, it isn’t,” Marcia thought this to be odd. She had Saturdays off. She wasn’t sure why Adrienne was attempting conversation now, after eighteen months of radio silence, but if it entertained the girl, Marcia would have to go along with it, “when did you learn to Feel?”

“A week or so ago. Brian had something he wanted to do, and he needed someone who could Feel to help.”

“Oh, wh-“ Marcia went silent as Adrienne froze in place at the top of the stairs, even her hair stopped moving. Adrienne beckoned, as if to say there was something behind the door just off the landing. Marcia stepped onto the landing beside her, and attempted to Feel what was behind the door. She Felt nothing.

_ Alther? _ Marcia mouthed, nervous.

_ Yes, _ came Adrienne’s response,  _ but something else. _

Marcia went pale. It was a witch. Adrienne reached up and placed her hand on Marcia’s shoulder. Marcia was too busy thinking about witches to notice.

Marcia listened, using her normal human hearing, which revealed faint breathing, as well as a light scratching noise.

“It’s a mouse, Adrienne,” Marcia said, pushing the door open. And she was right. Inside the room, sitting on an old wooden bed frame, was Alther, alone. As soon as the door was fully open, a small mouse ran into the hallway.

“Oh,” Adrienne turned pink, “sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Alther asked, “you found me a lot quicker than I thought.”

“I Felt a mouse and thought I’d ended up in the wrong place. It scared Marcia.”

“No it did not,” Marcia retorted.

“Impressive,” Alther said, “things that are small are normally quite hard to Feel. Could you Feel it as well, Marcia?”

“No.”

“You will, in time. Now, Adrienne, I assume you cannot Transport-“ Adrienne nodded and Alther continued to speak, “-so Marcia and I will give you time to position yourself somewhere in this area, and Marcia will attempt to find you by Feeling. If you run into immediate danger, or ten minutes passes without us finding you, shoot sparks above your location, okay?”

“Okay,” Adrienne pulled her cloak around her shoulders and made her way down the stairs. Marcia and Alther closed their eyes and began to count, almost like they were playing a game of Hide and Go Seek. When they reached sixty, Marcia opened her eyes and made her way back onto the street.

“Now remember, Marcia, a good Feel has emotion behind it. If your heart wants to find someone, you’ll Feel it more. But don’t focus too much on who you want to find, for realizing who you’re Feeling often causes the Feel to go away.”

Marcia didn’t feel as emotionally invested in finding Adrienne as Alther seemed to believe a good Feel required, but for the sake of trying, she closed her eyes and thought of Adrienne, with her fair, freckled face and stupidly long hair tied back with the ribbon she had yet to give back. As Marcia imagined Adrienne’s constant nervous smile, she Felt something tug at her heart.

Remembering that she mustn’t let herself fully realize what she was Feeling, Marcia set off towards a small door on the corner of the street, her mind focused on remembering more physical attributes of the girl Marcia had conditioned herself to not care about, and she found herself becoming distracted.

_ Adrienne lent you books, _ Marcia heard a whisper in her head, combatting it with the memory of her index, which she never got to retrieve from Adrienne’s room on the Ramblings.  _ Adrienne’s always been friendly to you, _ it struck again, requiring Marcia to replay the memory of Teya telling her that Adrienne  _ would drop her like a hot potato _ over and over again to dismiss. Marcia had never particularly liked Teya, but she seemed to have been right. Adrienne had never stopped her act of innocent friendliness, but had never made the effort to talk to Marcia, or stop and have lunch.  _ But neither did you, _ countered the voice, and Marcia stopped dead in her tracks, annoyed that the voice made such a valid point.

It was then that Marcia realized that she couldn’t Feel Adrienne anymore, despite never having thought of anything else. Marcia closed her eyes again, rebuilding her mental picture of Adrienne, but Felt nothing. Marcia groaned. She couldn’t just stop finding her fellow Apprentice, not with Alther right behind her. So Marcia decided to improvise, pulling open the nearest door and stepping inside.

Unlike the last building, this one wasn’t empty, and was filled with shelves of bottles, boxes, and a few books. Exactly, Marcia thought, where Adrienne would hide. A Dutch door to the left of the entry led to what looked like a study, and Marcia stepped inside. To her surprise (and relief), there sat Adrienne, leafing through a stack of books she seemed to have found on a nearby shelf.

“Hello, Marcia,” Adrienne didn’t look up, but Marcia could still see her signature smile.

“Hey Adrienne,” Marcia willed herself to not smile back.

“That was a lovely job you did,” Adrienne stood up, carefully slipping one of the books into her tunic pocket. Marcia didn’t say anything, “you knew where I was so early, and you stopped your Feel halfway. I’ve never seen anyone do that.”

“You knew I would find you?”

“Of course. I can tell when I’m being Felt. It’s like being Watched, but a bit happier.” Adrienne waved to Alther, who was still standing in the entry hall.

“Wonderful Feeling, both of you,” he said, “I can see you’ve improved already, Marcia. We best get back now. I have a meeting at 1:00 with the Queen, and we should drop Adrienne off before then.”

Marcia remembered the voice in her head, which had managed to leave its last comment stuck like a piece of glue.  _ You never said anything, _ it reminded her.

“Actually, Alther?” Marcia asked, “can Adrienne and I go to lunch, and meet you at the Tower after?”

“I don’t see why not,” Alther replied, “but I have to go. Cerys hates it when meetings begin late.” He chuckled, then strode out of the room.

Adrienne smiled, and Marcia let herself smile back.

“What are we standing here for?” she said, adjusting a section of curls, “lunch isn’t going to just magically appear.”


	8. Wizard Sandwiches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia and Adrienne go out to lunch, and it’s exactly as boring as it sounds until I throw every single previously mentioned character in. Except Raymond. I doubt he’ll ever be relevant again.

The walk to Wizard Sandwiches was filled with bearable silence. Wizard Way was lively, full of people doing their shopping, meeting with friends, and taking a lunch break, and Marcia and Adrienne blended easily with the crowd. A few people made surprised remarks at seeing the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice out and about, but Marcia’s confident air kept interlopers at bay, and the pair made it to the cafe with little trouble.

Wizard Sandwiches was relatively new, and it’s bright facade and innovative menu drew young couples and groups of friends to the many outdoor tables, where they could enjoy (or get sick from) the variety of interesting sandwich combinations. Marcia and Adrienne walked up to the veranda, which was already full of the lunchtime crowd of Apprentices and older schoolchildren, and found a small table in a back corner.

“I can go and order, if you’d like,” Adrienne said, after the two had sat down.

“Excellent,” Marcia went to hand Adrienne some coins from her pocket. Adrienne took the money and made her way to the order counter.

Now alone, Marcia looked around at the groups surrounding her. She was disinterested in the group of small children playing ball in the alley by the restaurant and the couple sharing a glass of FizzFroot behind her, but was surprised to make eye contact with a familiar face sitting across the veranda.

“Marcia?” Dominic said, gesturing over. Marcia made her way to where he was sitting with Thomasinn and Pascalle.

“Hi Marcia!” Pascalle smiled, “we haven’t seen you in ages!”

“Hello,” Marcia said. She wasn’t elated to see her former classmates, but she wasn’t distressed, either.

“It’s been a while,” Dominic smiled, “how have things going?”

“Well, thank you,” Marcia fought to keep her voice from becoming clipped, “and you?”

“They’ve been wonderful!” Pascalle beamed, “Thomasinn and I have been offered Ordinary Apprenticeships, and Dominic’s got a job at the Manuscriptorium.”

“This is my goodbye lunch, actually,” Dominic looked sad, “it’s lucky you’re here too, you can join us.”

“I would, but I’m here with someone else.” Marcia looked over at Adrienne, who was counting change to give to the server.

“Who? Ooh,” Pascalle squealed, “is it a date?”

“Maybe it’s that cute boy from the Sick Bay,” Thomasinn added.

“I’m not on a date, I’m with Adrienne,” Marcia quipped. Thomasinn and Pascalle’s faces fell.

“Really?” Pascalle looked disappointed. “I didn’t realize you were still feeling sorry for her.”

“I mean, that’s awfully nice of you, but you don’t have to do that anymore, you’re the ExtraOrdinary,” Thomasinn smiled, “you can hang out with us.”

Dominic kept his eyes trained on the wooden table, not saying anything.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I really should get back. It was good to see you.” Marcia turned on her heel and made her way back to the table where Adrienne was sitting back down.

“Who was that?” Adrienne asked, looking a bit shaken.

“It was the Hopefuls,” Marcia kept her face neutral.

“Oh, lovely,” Adrienne gave a small sigh.

“They were nice, really,” Marcia said hurriedly, “just different.”

“Yes, that happens,” Adrienne began folding her cloth napkin.

The two sat in silence for a few moments. Marcia kept her eyes trained on Adrienne’s ribbon as to not look in Dominic’s direction.

“Dominic was quite nice, really,” Adrienne kept her gaze down, “before you came. And after too, I guess.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Marcia felt her voice become unusually gentle, “what happened?”

“Between Dominic and me? Nothing really. We started at the same time, and since we were both way younger than everyone else, we stuck together. Then Pascalle and Thomasinn and Teya and Raymond joined, and we became a big group. Everyone was nice, really, I just don’t like big groups.”

Marcia was skeptical, but decided not to press further.

“Order 26, for Adrienne?” a server called from the order counter.

“Would you like me to get it?” Marcia asked.

“Please,” Adrienne smiled.

Marcia walked up to the order counter, and the server, a tall, familiar looking girl, handed her a stack of sandwiches. 

“Teya?” Marcia asked.

“Don’t look so surprised, ExtraOrdinary,” Teya snapped, “I aged out, remember? I have to work somewhere. You and your little girlfriend both looked like gaping fish when you saw me. Almost worth it.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Marcia retorted.

“Obviously not,” Teya rolled her eyes, “I can’t imagine how a bumbling twat like Adrienne would end up with someone like you.”

Marcia scoffed and carefully made her way back to the table, precariously balancing the stack of food.

“Wow,” Adrienne said upon her arrival, “I didn’t expect that many sandwiches. I guess it’s good that I didn’t order anything else.”

“You didn’t tell me Teya worked here.”

“I didn’t know either. She wasn’t too happy to see me.”

“Me either,” Marcia grimaced.

Marcia set the food down and settled into her chair opposite Adrienne. The two women took sandwiches from the top of the stack and bit into them.

“Oh,” Marcia grimaced, “tuna, cabbage, and...jam?”

“Marshberry jam,” Adrienne set her sandwich down, “well, that was a bust, I guess. I’m sorry.”

“You’re fine,” Marcia wrapped up a sandwich to bring back to Alther, who was quite fond of marshberry jam, “I guess we should head back, then?”

“Okay,” Adrienne gave an awkward smile. She stood up, and Marcia followed. The two walked back onto Wizard Way, but Marcia was surprised to see Adrienne turn to the right, rather than left towards the Wizard Tower.

“Adrienne?” Marcia gestured to the left. “The Tower’s that way.”

“I know. Could we make a stop somewhere first? If you don’t mind.”

Marcia did, in fact, mind, and thought of the multiple projects waiting for her in her Tower room, but bit back her tongue. She reckoned that Adrienne’s errand wouldn’t take too long, and the cool autumn air was nicer than the stifling heat of the Wizard Tower. She strode quickly down the Way, and Adrienne had to almost jog to keep up.

“Turn here,” she said, pointing to Gold Button Drop, the small alleyway Marcia and Adrienne had used to enter and exit the Ramblings back in their Hopeful days. Adrienne took the opportunity to step in front of Marcia when entering the narrow passage, causing Marcia’s speed to lower considerably.

Adrienne made her way through the entrance to the Ramblings, and led Marcia through the familiar maze of doors and arches, until the pair was standing in front of a familiar yellow arch.

“Oh,” Marcia said, slightly disappointed. Adrienne fumbled in her tunic pockets for a small yellow key, and opened the door.

The room was empty, and besides a smattering of dust, was exactly the way Adrienne had left it the day the Message Rat had come for her eighteen months prior.

“Lovely,” Adrienne said, looking around the room, “it should be exactly where I left it then. You don’t have to just stand there, Marcia, you’re free to come in.”

Marcia tentatively stepped inside and sneezed. Dust tended to make her nose itch.

“Sorry,” Adrienne called from behind the sofa, “there hasn’t been time to dust. Oh, here it is.”

Adrienne stood up, a heavy book in her hands.

“My index!” Marcia smiled. She didn’t think Adrienne would have remembered to give it back.

“Yeah. I’m sorry I haven’t done it sooner. It just slipped my mind, but seeing the Hopefuls reminded me that it was here, and I didn’t think I’d have time to get it later.” Adrienne handed the book to Marcia, who wiped the thin layer of dust off of the cover.

“Thanks, Adrienne,” Marcia smiled, “but I need to be back at the Tower now.”

“Right,” Adrienne led Marcia back into the hallway and locked the door behind her. The pair made their way back through the Ramblings, careful to avoid the throng of children doing their Ramblings Certification Test.

“When did you take your test?” Adrienne asked, watching a young girl lead the test proctor towards the Big Bertha well.

“I didn’t. My parents wanted to go to the Hot Dry Deserts of the South that year. Whenever I was home, they’d just have one of the neighbors take me places until I was old enough to travel without a certification. Besides, you’re here, and you know where you’re going.”

“I didn’t take the test either.” Adrienne didn’t elaborate, but continued to make her way towards Gold Button Drop. Once outside, Marcia winced as her eyes adjusted to the bright afternoon sunlight.

The pair walked toward the Wizard Tower, past Wizard Sandwiches, where a scowling Teya gave Adrienne a hefty glare while wiping down an outdoor table. Wizard Way was a bit less busy, with most of the younger crowd returning back to work. Without the crowd, a few passerby were a bit bolder than they had been before.

“Apprentice!” called a pudgy woman in blue Manuscriptorium robes, beckoning Marcia toward her.

“Hello Jillie,” Marcia deadpanned, “what can I help you with?”

“Miss Overstrand, the Chief Hermetic Scribe wishes to reschedule his appointment with the ExtraOrdinary Wizard.”

“Okay. Take it up with him, then.” Marcia turned to leave.

“No. We have chosen a time. Please inform Mr Mella that he should make himself present at the Manuscriptorium on Monday at 12:21 precisely.”

Marcia sighed, nodded, and kept walking. A few other people called out to her, but Marcia chose to ignore them. Upon reaching the Tower, she strode purposefully into the Great Hall.

“Goodbye, Adrienne,” Marcia took a step toward the stairs.

“Bye, Marcia!” Adrienne grinned. “I had fun!”

If Marcia hadn’t been already standing on the stairs, Adrienne would have been able to hear her reply that she had had fun too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t have a consistent update schedule before, but it’s going to get a bit less consistent now that’s school’s going again, so apologies xo


	9. Reorganized

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrienne does a bit or cleaning, and Marcia does a bit or patronizing.

“Adrienne!”

Adrienne McNamara readjusted her favorite purple hair ribbon and jumped down from the cabinet she was sitting on top of. She had spent the last hour trying to round up the family of spiders that had taken up residence in her mentor, Brian Potts’ front room after the most recent Big Freeze had set in. As her feet hit the floor, she wiped the dust off of her green Apprentice tunic and made her way into the small study where Brian did most of his work.

“Good, you’re here,” Brian said, “and quite timely too. Impressive.”

Adrienne blushed, “what is it?”

“I need the magnifier. Can you retrieve it from the study, please?” Brian looked at the large sheet of calculations in front of him. “Actually, grab the index with lunar timetables in it too, will you?”

Adrienne nodded and made her way over to the door leading to the small room where Brian housed his ever-growing book collection.

The library was Adrienne’s favorite part of being an Apprentice. Brian’s book collection obviously didn’t come near the famed Pyramid Library, but Adrienne still had access to the impressive assortment of rare and valuable books that were in her mentor’s possession. Most of the few hours and afternoons she was given off were spent reading, a welcome distraction from the monotonous Apprentice tasks she spent most of her time doing.

Opening the door, Adrienne was hit with a strong smell of old paper and leather. She smiled; she was home. She took a look around at the haphazard stacks of books, for Brian was many things, but neat was not one of them. His magnifier was sitting in an easy-to-reach spot on top of a small stack of encyclopedias, and Adrienne picked it up. The index, however, was nowhere she could see. After fifteen minutes of searching, she sighed, and walked back over to Brian’s study.

“Here’s your magnifier,” she said, looking at the floor, “but I didn’t see the book.”

“Oh dear,” Brian sighed, “that won’t do, will it?”

“I’m sorry,” Adrienne kept her eyes focused on the dark wood boards, “maybe if I did a bit of reorganizing, I might find it.”

“Well, you were going to spend the afternoon practicing Suspension, but I suppose you can re-sort the library instead.” 

Adrienne was flooded with relief. Brian had, on multiple occasions, instructed Adrienne to lay face down in a water-filled bathtub in hopes that she would finally master the Art of Suspension Underwater. Adrienne had not, and had instead ruined three tunics with the water damage they had acquired.

Adrienne entered the study, and her relief melted away to be replaced with the sensation of being overwhelmed. The room was packed full of books, so much so that the shelves lining the walls, which she knew were there, were hardly visible. She sat thinking for a moment before deciding to move as many books as she could into Brian’s main room, where she would sort them and place them on the shelves in the library. She turned to the nearest stack of books, lifted them, and carefully carried them into the neighboring room.

Adrienne was not a large woman, nor was she a strong one. In fact, people had often mistaken the nineteen year old for a child of twelve or thirteen. But knowing she only had a single afternoon to finish gave her an unprecedented amount of strength and agility. Two hours into her task, half of the books in Brian’s library were lying in the front room, sorted into neat piles by genre. Adrienne was quite proud of her work, and Brian seemed to be as well.

”Goodness, pet,” Brian had said, as he stepped in to check on Adrienne’s progress a few hours prior, “you’re working quite quickly. I must say, I’m quite impressed with your work ethic. Something Alther’s apprentice lacks, oho.” Brian chuckled, and went back into his study.

Adrienne personally wished someone like Marcia was there to help her. Marcia was substantially taller and stronger than Adrienne, and two people working were better than one, especially when the one worker had been offered the child price at the Ramblings Little Theater a month earlier. But Adrienne set her worries aside and turned to the next stack of books to be lifted. It wasn’t particularly large or heavy, and most of the books seemed quite thin compared to others around them. Adrienne squatted down to grab the base of the bottom book, and lifted the stack into the air.

The books swayed in her arms, and Adrienne gently leaned back so that the books would settle against her chest, making them easier to carry. She felt the stack’s weight shift, but before she could comprehend what had happened, a flash of heat hit her chest and the books spilled to the floor.

Bending down to the ground, Adrienne began gathering the books back into a stack. She reached behind her for a book that had slid back towards the library door, but pulled her hand back as soon as she had touched it. The two fingers that had touched the book were warm and red, much to her confusion. Sighing, she turned to retrieve the book, which had flown even farther backwards when Adrienne had jerked her hand away. Carefully, she picked it up in her hands, and turned it over to examine it. It looked like an average book, but she wasn’t able to discern much else before dropping it in pain. Adrienne looked down at both hands, which were now red and burning.

“This isn’t normal,” she whispered, carefully wrapping the book in her long tunic, as if to store it in a kangaroo-like pouch, “I’ve got to give this to Alther.”

She stood up, and made her way toward the door.

“Brian?” she called, turning so that the book-sized lump in her tunic wasn’t visible.

“Yes?” Brian poked his head from outside the door.

“I need to get something from, um, downstairs. To help with the library.”

“Okay,” Brian looked mildly suspicious, “but be quick. I want you done by this evening. I have some Charms I need to test, and you’re just the girl for the job.”

Adrienne hurried out the door and jumped onto the stairs. Taking a glance behind her, she took the absence of other Wizards as the stairs being totally empty.

“Emergency!” she whispered, causing the stairs to triple in speed. A yelp from a few floors below caused Adrienne to grimace. A complaint would be lodged, and anyone who looked hard enough would be able to pin it back to Brian Potts’ Golden Child. 

As the stairs reached the twentieth floor, Adrienne hurried off, but not before instructing the stairs to return to normal speed. She knocked on the big purple door that led to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard’s rooms.

After waiting a minute for a reply, Adrienne knocked again with a hurried yell of “Alther? Mr Mella?”

“Sorry,” came a familiar yell from inside, “you can’t have an appointment right now.”

“Marcia!” Adrienne was desperate, “this is urgent!”

A groan came from behind the door, which swung open to reveal an exasperated Marcia, who quickly whipped a pair of spectacles off of her face.

“Adrienne? What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Alther? I have something for him, and I think it might be important.”

Marcia took in Adrienne’s look of panic, coupled with her messy hair and bunched-up tunic, and beckoned her inside.

“He’s not here,” Marcia said, “he has a meeting at the Manuscriptorium. But I guess I can act in absentia. What is it?”

Adrienne unfolded her tunic, letting the book drop onto the coffee table in front of the blazing fireplace.

“A book?” Marcia was confused. She bent down for a closer look.

“No!” Adrienne cried, “don’t touch it!” She held out her hands.

“Good heavens, Adrienne,” Marcia clicked her tongue, “come here, I think I’ve got Burn Balm in my room somewhere.”

Adrienne let herself be led into the small door off of the sitting room. Inside was a quaint bedroom. The walls were painted a happy green and covered in neatly pinned drawings and sketches, and a window to the Tower courtyard gave the room a pleasant air. Adrienne sat down on the bed and looked at a particularly well done outline of what looked to be a maze.

“Wow,” she said, “that’s really well done. Did you do that?”

“Yes,” Marcia didn’t turn away from the chest she was digging through, “I used to really enjoy mazes as a child. Couldn’t bear to throw that one away. Did I get rid of the Balm? Bother.”

A few minutes later, Marcia emerged victorious, a small tube of Burn Balm in her hands. She squeezed a small amount onto her fingers and gently rubbed it onto Adrienne’s palms. The burning sensation stopped almost instantly, and was replaced by a feeling of cool.

“That’s loads better, thank you.” Adrienne smiled.

“I would be careful if I were you,” Marcia said, wiping her hands clean, “your hands will hurt if you do too much with them. I’d take it easy for a while, maybe ask the Sick Bay if it gets worse. Now let’s take a look at your precious book, shall we?”

“Don’t touch it!” Adrienne said.

“You’ve mentioned that. How am I going to move it if I can’t touch it?”

“I don’t know.” Adrienne looked down, “I’m sorry.”

“Stop doing that,” Marcia strode briskly from the room, returning a few minutes later with the book in her hands, which were inside of a pair of purple oven mitts. Adrienne giggled, which was met with a glare.

“Don’t laugh too early,” Marcia snapped, tossing a pair of green mitts to Adrienne, “we’re both going to be looking at this.”

Marcia set the book onto her desk and turned on the small lamp in the corner. Adrienne looked carefully at the book. It looked exactly as it had back in the library: small, with a leather cover. With the warm light emanating from the lamp, Adrienne read the title aloud.

“The Booke of the Light?” she asked, confused.

“I don’t know,” Marcia sighed, “what inside it?”

Marcia’s gloved hand opened the cover, revealing the first page, a list of instructions for creating spheres of sunlight. A quick flip through the book’s pages revealed dozens of complicated, powerful spells that neither Apprentice had seen before.

“This is,” Marcia paused in awe, “impressive. How did you find this?”

“I was cleaning Brian’s study, and I, um, fell, and the book burned my hands. That had never happened to me before, so I thought Alther would know what to do.”

“I don’t think Alther’s ever heard of this. But you were right. A book like this belongs in the Pyramid Library, where we can store it properly. You can wait here for Alther to come back from his meeting, if you’d like. He’ll probably have questions for you.”

“I’m sorry,” Adrienne sighed, “but I really should get back to work.”

“Doing what?” Marcia looked down at Adrienne, who showed clear signs of exhaustion.

“I’ve still got half of the library to clean, and I’ve got to get it done today. There’s Charms to test this evening, and Sus-“

“God, Adrienne, do you ever stop?” Marcia shook her head, “but if you insist, feel free to leave.”

Adrienne didn’t move.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll get two Apprentices to finish sorting Brian’s library. And then you’re doing something about that hair. It’s getting absolutely ridiculous.”

“Thanks, Marcia,” Adrienne smiled.

“Don’t thank me.” Marcia turned to leave the room. “You really do overwork yourself, you know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my planned-out plot actually begins here, so I’m excited for the action to pick up :)


	10. Star Charts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia and Adrienne do a bit of research, a bit of Astronomy, and a bit of bonding.

According to Alther, Adrienne McNamara made a wonderful dinner guest. His shepherd’s pie, which Marcia had pointed out numerous times to be ‘not quite right’, was enjoyed by Adrienne, who had even asked for seconds. She had offered to do the dishes, and when Marcia had reminded her that she  _ absolutely could not be rubbing a sponge against her hands with boiling hot water, Adrienne _ , she had settled for leafing through Alther’s old Apprentice reports and papers, carefully leaving pencilled notes when she thought no one was looking (Marcia was, in fact, looking).

It had been over four months since that night, and as time went on, Marcia slowly stopped recalling it. It wasn’t her fault, she was nearing her third year of Apprenticeship, and she was buried so far under a mound of tasks and projects that she couldn’t see daylight anymore. Like many Apprentices before her, she became confined to the rooms at the top of the Wizard Tower, emerging only occasionally to run an odd errand.

Alther occasionally took to asking after Marcia’s ‘cute little friend’, and while a response of ‘she’s fine, Alther’ normally satisfied the question, Marcia had no idea how Adrienne really was. She seemed to be just as reclusive, so much so that even Alther, who was constantly on the move, had yet to see her except in fleeting passing. Marcia had an inkling of suspicion that Alther was trying to get her and Adrienne to reconnect, and while Marcia didn’t object to the idea, she told herself that she was just too busy to rendezvous with other Apprentices, and besides, an ExtraOrdinary Apprentice must be independent.

Alther had left for another meeting with Queen Cerys, leaving Marcia alone in the ExtraOrdinary rooms for the afternoon. She was quite used to having a few hours to herself, and normally took the time to finish a paper or study for an upcoming practical. But sitting down at her desk by the window, which filtered in the bright April sun, Marcia couldn’t seem to focus on her notes on Transubstantiate Triples, and soon found her eyes drawn to the bundle wrapped in purple oven mitts tucked under her nightstand.

Marcia had assured Adrienne that she would give the book to Alther, but had been so busy for the few days after the incident that she had forgotten, and as time went on, she began to have the gut feeling that the book was better off in her hands. She had managed to refrain from looking at it, but her mental reservations were overpowered by the split-second feeling to just  _ read it already, Marcia, it’s a book, not a Darke Curse _ , and she felt herself drop to her hands and knees and pulls the oven mitt bundle from its hiding place.

The book looked exactly as it had the day it was discovered. It was covered in a thin layer of dust, which, when brushed away with Marcia’s mitten-clad hand, revealed the engraved title,  _ The Booke of the Light _ . Bracing herself, and going over the Freeze incantation in her head in case things got messy, Marcia opened the cover. The book’s pages fluttered in an invisible breeze, and settled on a page about halfway through the book.

“A Magykal Revival by the Breath of the Aire,” Marcia read, slipping her glasses onto her nose to read the smaller text, “how odd.”

Besides the Darke Art of Necromancy, Marcia had never heard of a way to revive someone from death, much less by breathing on them. Even the books in the Pyramid Library neglected to mention it, and the few mentions of the possibility referred to other long-lost books. Marcia’s eyes traveled to the shelf next to her bed, which housed her favorite books, and her precious index. Her eyes widened, and she reached to grab the index, the faint memory of reading about revival by breath two years ago rushing to the front of her mind.

Marcia hastily flipped through the pages, which had slowly become filled with margin notes and occasional doodles. She normally wouldn’t dare to write in a book, but the index’s constant references to other texts and lack of clarification seemed to almost invite the reader to add notes. Near the back of the book, past the page on anti-fever spells (and the note to  _ ask Adrienne’s mother _ ) was the entry she was looking for. Neatly labelled with the header ‘Revival by Breath’, a half-page of text and illustrations that, when summarized, accounted to ‘instruction can be found in the lost Bookes, which have vanished in the depths of time’.

Marcia glanced back at the Booke of the Light, which offered similar spell descriptions, and stifled a gasp. Adrienne hadn’t managed to find a strangely Charmed spellbook, she had found a book that had been considered lost for hundreds of years. No wonder she had never heard of the book, and she guessed it wouldn’t be listed in the Pyramid Library archives either. But there was only one way to find out, and Marcia had a feeling that getting the person who caused the debacle in the first place involved was the best way to do it.

Marcia ignored Brian Potts’ brass knocker and chose to bang on the wooden door instead, wondering what was taking Adrienne so long to open it.

The door flew open. “Yes?” asked the warm voice of Brian, Adrienne’s tutor.

“I need to speak to your Apprentice. Please.” Marcia hastily remembered to be polite.

“She’s a little busy at the moment, I apologize,” Brian smiled, sticking his head out of the half-open door, “should I tell her you came by?”

“Is someone at the door, Brian?” came a gentle voice from inside.

“You can tell Miss McNamara that her presence in the ExtraOrdinary Wizard’s rooms is imperative. Right now.” Marcia mustered what she thought to be her best scary face and held steady eye contact with Brian.

“Is that Marcia?” the voice piped up again, followed by soft footsteps. The door opened a bit wider, and a strawberry-blonde head joined Brian’s.

“Hello Adrienne,” Marcia gave a slight smile, “I need you upstairs, please.”

“No,” Brian narrowed his eyes, “you’re the girl who whisked my Adrienne away in the middle of re-sorting my library. The replacement Apprentices you sent were less than satisfactory. They put my dictionaries in the fiction section.”

“I apologize, Mr Potts, I had no intention of disrupting your book sorting. It was your Apprentice who came to me. I was only doing my job and preventing her from being further injured.”

Adrienne gave a somber smile and mouthed  _ sorry  _ at Marcia.

Marcia sighed. “Mr Potts,” she said coldly, “if the issue wasn’t urgent, I wouldn’t be here, would I? This is of major importance, and I hope you understand that as an ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, I do not use that term lightly. As Miss McNamara is the most qualified for the issue at hand, she will come with me to deal with said issue, and will be brought back to you later this evening. I will be waiting for you upstairs, Adrienne.”

Marcia turned on her heel and walked toward the stairs, which brought her upstairs to the twentieth floor. She whispered the password to the big purple door and walked into Alther’s sitting room, where she collapsed onto her favorite cushy purple sofa. She sighed. Keeping an intimidating air had exhausted her.

“Marcia?” Adrienne’s voice came from behind the loveseat. “Are you okay?”

Marcia quickly sat up.

“I’m fine, thank you.” She looked at the closed door. “How did you get in?”

“The password. Brian told me I could come see you, but to make it quick.”

Marcia decided not to question it.

“Come this way, I have something to show you.” She led Adrienne to her room, where the Booke and index were sitting.

“The Booke? I thought you gave that to Alther.”

“Sorry,” Marcia said briskly, “but look at this.” She pointed to the matching pages. Adrienne bent forward to take a closer look.

“Whoa,” she said.

“I think you found a Lost Book.”

“But surely, it’s not lost,” Adrienne looked confused, “Brian had it.”

“Lost Books can end up in people’s possessions. Those without Magyk often don’t even notice it. But this one is weird. I don’t think it’s listed with the other Lost Books. I wanted you to help me check.”

“Check?” Adrienne blinked slowly.

“In the Library, Adrienne,” Marcia sighed. Was her friend always this slow?

Adrienne’s face lit up. Marcia reckoned that the Pyramid Library was her version of heaven. Marcia led her to the ladder in the back of the room and began to climb. She could hear Adrienne, albeit slower, following behind. As she reached the top, Marcia sat near the top of the ladder, and reached a hand out to help pull Adrienne onto the landing.

“Thank you,” Adrienne looked around the room, “whoa.”

The Pyramid Library had had the same effect on Marcia near the beginning of her Apprenticeship, and she’d become used to it, but the room was all-new to Adrienne. Ancient but sturdy shelves filled the room, upon which were hundreds of books crackling with Magyk. Cases full of Charms sat neatly organized in what could have once been called a filing cabinet, and the center of the circular room housed two squashy armchairs next to a round table. Marcia motioned for Adrienne to sit down in one of the chairs as she made her way to the back of the room, returning with a thick book.

“This,” she said, gently opening the cover, “is a record of every book that has ever been in the Library. If this is really a Lost Book, it would be here, or else we wouldn’t consider it Lost.”

“Because you have to lose something for it to be lost. The Tower must’ve had it at some point.”

“Exactly. Luckily, B’s at the beginning of the alphabet, so this shouldn’t take too long.”

Marcia silently flipped through the pages as Adrienne scanned them, until she reached the page where the book would have been listed.

“Booke of Kippits, Booke of Kung-Fu, Booke of Laughter, Booke of Levitation, Booke of Likenesses, Booke of-“ Adrienne paused, “bother, I must’ve missed it.”

Adrienne read through the page again.

“Marcia,” she said, a hint of worry in her voice, “it looks like the book should be here, but it isn’t.”

Marcia looked at the page, and sure enough, where the Booke’s title should’ve been, there were two empty lines.

“Someone’s tampered with the records,” Marcia was shocked, “but who would do such a thing?”

“And your index never mentions the book by name, does it?” Adrienne asked.

“No. Someone’s trying to erase the identity of this book on purpose.”

“Maybe we should-“ Adrienne stopped, and she and Marcia both heard the door to Alther’s room slam open, followed by two sets of footsteps.

“Well, she should be up here, Brian,” came Alther’s unmistakable voice, “Marcia isn’t one to lie.”

“I hope not,” came the second person.

_ It’s Brian, _ Adrienne mouthed, her face paling to the color of new parchment.

Marcia felt a tinge of worry. She could explain away Adrienne being in the Library to Alther, but she doubted that Brian would appreciate his Apprentice being drawn away to look at books.

“Really, Alther,” Brian continued, “she just barged right into my study and demanded to see my Adrienne right then, with no respect at all. She was quite busy-“

“I’m sure she was,” Alther interrupted, “but Marcia must have had a good reason.”

“Reason or not, you can’t just let her run around like this. It’s quite unbecoming. I can’t imagine my Apprentice doing that. She knows how to show proper respect, and has work ethic.”

Marcia gave an angry tut, which led to another mouthed  _ I’m sorry _ from Adrienne.

“Well, they didn’t just up and vanish, we’ll just take a quick look around for them.”

Adrienne’s face lit up. She grabbed a stray piece of paper and a pen and quickly scribbled out a note. She handed it to Marcia, who squinted to read it without her glasses, nodded, and slipped the note into her pocket.

Making eye contact, Marcia and Adrienne whispered an UnSeen, being as quiet as they could. After the incantation finished Adrienne gave a silent squeak of worry. The two could still easily see each other. Marcia pointed to a small mirror, which showed the Library just as it was, minus two young adult women, reminding her friend that two people who cast the same UnSeen were still visible to each other. Adrienne sighed with relief, and Marcia beckoned her to the ladder.

Careful not to make any sudden movements, the two women carefully climbed back down to the sitting room, squeezing past Alther and Brian, who were checking Alther’s tiny kitchen.  _ My room, quickly, _ Marcia mouthed, and the two hurried to the small green door. Marcia carefully opened the door, lifting it gently to stop its trademark squeak, and pushed Adrienne inside. She eased the door closed, and together, the two let their UnSeens go.

“That was close,” Adrienne smiled.

“Yeah,” Marcia looked around the room, “the book, quickly.”

Marcia picked up her index and placed it back onto her shelf as Adrienne wrapped the Booke back in the oven mitts.

“Under the nightstand,” Marcia whispered. Adrienne slid the bundle into its hiding place, and to give a plausible cover, she grabbed a chart from the nightstand table.

“Sit here with me,” Adrienne sat on the chair in front of Marcia’s desk and spread the chart out. She grabbed a pencil and began making small notes onto Marcia’s neatly written calculations.

“What are you doing?” asked Marcia, who wasn’t going to admit that she couldn’t read Adrienne’s tiny writing without her glasses.

“We have to be realistic,” Adrienne replied, “and I know a bit of astronomy.”

After a minute, Marcia’s door flew open.

“Hello Alther,” Marcia didn’t look up, “how is the Queen?”

“She’s well,” Alther smiled. Brian went red, “it’s nice to see you with your friend again. Hello Adrienne, we’ve missed seeing you.”

“Hi Alther!” Adrienne looked up, her face a happy pink. “It’s wonderful to see you too. It was lovely of Marcia to ask me for help with her star chart. Astronomy is one of my favorite subjects.”

Marcia kept her face neutral, but her brain was in awe of Adrienne’s sudden ability to lie convincingly.

“I had a wonderful time, Marcia,” Adrienne wrote a final note on the chart, “but I probably should be going.”

“Yes, probably,” Marcia stood up. Adrienne followed suit.

“Let’s go, Adrienne,” Brian gave Marcia a stony glare.

“Bye Marcia, bye Alther,” Adrienne gave Marcia a quick, but strong side hug, and before Marcia could process what had happened, she and Brian were out the door.

“She really is a lovely girl,” Alther said absentmindedly, glancing at the bed, which had been slightly rustled in the earlier panic, “you two make wonderful friends.”

“Yes,” Marcia gave a small smile.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it. Dinner will be at six,” Alther gave a small wave and went back into the sitting room.

Marcia pulled her spectacles from her pocket, causing the note to tumble onto the floor. Picking it up, she tacked it onto the wall, where it was safely hidden behind a sketch of a forest in the Eastern SnowPlains. She slipped her glasses onto her nose and sat down to look at the chart. She heard the trademark sound of Alther climbing the Pyramid Library ladder, and decided she’d deal with his questions later.

Adrienne had left various advice, from tips for spotting and labeling stars, to small math corrections. So she hadn’t lied, Marcia thought, Adrienne really does know astronomy. But it was the final note in the top right corner that held Marcia’s interest. Etched in Adrienne’s perfect penmanship was a note that Marcia guessed had nothing to do with astronomy.

_ Manuscriptorium. Tomorrow, midday. I’ll meet you there. _

Marcia smiled at Adrienne’s quick thinking. Someone at the Manuscriptorium would have to know about the Booke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really sure how I feel about this chapter, but I’m not sure how to fix it either (and I just don’t have the time to. I’d forgotten just how time consuming school is). But here it is, I hope you enjoy it.  
> 


	11. The Vaults

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jillie’s back, and she’s annoying as ever.  
> Marcia makes some discoveries, Adrienne gets trolled, Silas attempts diplomacy, and Dominic is just there.

Marcia strode quickly down Wizard Way, her cloak billowing out behind her. Besides giving curt nods to the occasional Wizard, she gave no notice to the activities around her. She was in no danger of being late, having left the Wizard Tower ten minutes early, but still kept a brisk pace.

It was a warm spring afternoon, and like most days, the Way was filled with people running errands and meeting friends. The road was crowded, but most passerby jumped out of the way when they saw the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, giving her a clear path.

Marcia was lost in her thoughts, methodically running through the little information she knew about the Booke of the Light, so much so that she didn’t notice that someone was following her until they were right next to her.

“Marcia? Marcia!” A voice snapped Marcia from her thoughts.

“Oh, hello,” Marcia turned, and her face hardened when she recognized the man next to her. It was Silas Heap, with his messy blond hair and disheveled blue Ordinary Wizard robes.

“Finally I got your attention,” Silas panted, “you walk really fast.”

“What is it, Silas?” Marcia wasn’t particularly fond of her predecessor, who still made it a habit to visit Alther’s rooms for lunch and a chat quite often, as if he couldn’t quite let his old Apprenticeship go.

“I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been? It’s not often we get to talk.”

“Yes,” Marcia’s voice adopted an unintended patronizing tone, “how unfortunate. How is, er, Sarah?”

“She’s at home with the baby. They’re both well.”

“Baby?” Marcia was confused. Simon was at least three years old.

“Sam. He’s an absolute angel. Simon just adores being a big brother. You should really come meet him. Alther’s been by, and it was just wonderful for Simon to meet such an important Wizard. That’s why I’m here, actually. For Simon. He’s learning to read, and I ordered him some beginner Magyk books from the store-”

“Hmm, yes, lovely,” Marcia wasn’t paying attention. Rather, she was scanning the storefronts for Adrienne, who had a habit of being early.

“-and the weather’s going to be absolutely lovely this weekend, so I’m considering taking the day off to take Simon swimming down at the Moat. Endor’s making great progress on Charm inventory and I’m sure she could handle it without me-”

Marcia spotted Adrienne sitting on a bench outside the Manuscriptorium, her hair hanging loose down her back. She looked up and gave Marcia a friendly wave. Marcia veered over from the middle of the Way, and Silas, to Marcia’s dismay, followed.

“Good morning!” Adrienne smiled.

“Hey Adrienne,” Marcia returned the smile.

“Oh, who’s your friend, Marcia? A don’t think we’ve met.”

Marcia sighed, “Adrienne, this is Silas Heap, Alther’s old Apprentice. Silas, this is my friend Adrienne McNamara.”

“Nice to meet you, Adrie.” Silas smiled. Marcia and Adrienne both grimaced at the shortening of Adrienne’s name.

“Nice to meet you too,” Adrienne stuck out an awkward hand. Silas took it and shook it energetically.

“It was nice to catch up with you, Silas, but I have business to attend to.” Marcia gave a wave, and she and Adrienne stepped into the empty Manuscriptorium lobby.

“Sorry,” Marcia turned to Adrienne, who was leafing through the various papers stacked on the windowsill.

“Don’t apologize,” Adrienne replied absentmindedly, “he seems nice. You two go well together.”

“What?” Marcia spluttered, “no way—no—absolutely not. He’s married”

Adrienne laughed. “That wasn’t what I meant, silly. I wonder where the desk clerk is.”

As if on cue, a woman strode into the lobby. She gave Adrienne a stoic, but not unfriendly look, and then her gaze traveled to Marcia.

“Miss Overstrand. What a surprise,” she spat.

“Miss Djinn. A pleasure, as always.” Marcia kept her expression neutral. “My partner and I need to access the vaults.”

“The vaults aren’t here for free access, I’m sure you know that very well.”

“Miss Djinn, if it were not an important ExtraOrdinary business I wouldn’t be requesting it.”

“I’m sure it’s  _ very _ important, but I don’t have the time to take you. You can schedule an appointment for a scribe to take you. How about September 26th? I could squeeze you in at, say, ten thirty four?”

Marcia scoffed. “If I need an appointment, I will schedule it with the Chief Hermetic Scribe himself. There is no need to accompany us, my companion and I can find the way ourselves.”

“Absolutely not. You are free to leave.” Jillie Djinn turned and left the room.

“I’m sorry,” Adrienne kept her eyes trained on the floor, “I should have remembered to make an appointment.”

“It’s fine, Adrienne,” Marcia sighed. She straightened her cloak, prepared to step back outside onto the crowded street, when a noise came from behind the front desk. She groaned, not wanting to deal with Jillie again, but when she turned, she was relieved to see, not Jillie’s short figure, but a tall man with dark curly hair.

“Marcia?” the man asked, tugging on the sleeves of his scribe robes.

“Dominic?”

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“We were going to visit the vaults,” Marcia gently nudged Adrienne, who was trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible next to the taller woman, “but your colleague, Miss Djinn, seems to think otherwise.”

“Oh, Jillie? Yeah, she’s just a jerk. I could take you down there, if you wanted. As long as you don’t tell on me.”

“Thank you.” Marcia smiled, and Dominic turned and gestured her and Adrienne into the room behind the front lobby.

Marcia looked around the scribe chamber, where nineteen of the twenty-one scribes were sitting at tall desks, copying and transcribing various literary works. Enchanted papers Magykally flew across the room into neat stacks, and more than a few paper airplanes shot by as scribes relayed messages to one another. Dominic grabbed a small ring of keys from his desk before guiding the Apprentices through the door in the back of the scribe chamber.

“So,” Dominic said after the group was through the door and in a small, empty hallway, “what brings you to the Vaults?”

“Wizard Tower business,” Marcia replied, “I’m helping Adrienne with a bit of record keeping.”

Adrienne said nothing.

“I see,” Dominic fumbled with his collection of keys in an attempt to open the door that guarded the entrance to the Vaults, “well, I’m glad I’m able to help such an illustrious young Wizard. Never thought I’d be caught up in ExtraOrdinary business.”

The door unlocked and opened, and Marcia was greeted with a large metal door with a circular safe-style handle adorning the center. Dominic stepped up to the wheel, but before he could lay a hand on it, a thin, sneering ghost appeared.

“No, no, no,” the ghost wagged his fingers, “no one gets into the Vaults without a password.”

“Bright star, night star,” Marcia said, her eyes trained on the ghost’s.

“Of cou-wait. How do you know the password?” he narrowed his eyes as he realized that it was Marcia, not Dominic, who had given the password.

“An ExtraOrdinary Apprentice would be ashamed to not know the Castle’s passwords, would she not?”

“Certainly, you’re not the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice.”

“Certainly, I am. I’m Marcia Overstrand, Mr-“

“Unimportant. I’m not letting you in, girl.”

“Please sir, we only need to check some documents,” Dominic said, a pleading tone in his voice.

“Fine,” the ghost floated out of the way and allowed for Dominic to open the door.

As the door swung shut behind the three, Dominic made his way to the Vault’s index of records.

“What exactly are you looking for?” he asked, leafing through the index. Marcia left Adrienne, who was running her hand along the large armoire leaning against the large circular room’s wall, and went to stand next to Dominic.

“A list of Lost Books,” Marcia replied.

“Gotcha. Be right back.” Dominic made his way back into the depths of the vault. Marcia took a look around, taking in the vast archives of texts stored in the underground chamber. Adrienne was now leafing through a drawer of Charms, and Marcia walked over to take a look.

“Hey Marcia,” Adrienne kept her eyes trained on the bunches of Charms.

“Adrienne? Is something wrong?” Marcia tried to catch her friend’s eyes, but Adrienne was well versed in avoiding eye contact.

“Of course not,” Adrienne picked up a small silver Charm, which was shaped like a rectangle, with a triangle engraved in the center, “what do you think this one does?”

“I don’t know.” Marcia gently flipped the Charm in Adrienne’s palm, cupping her small hands with her own, “the writing’s been worn away. It just reads ‘roll’ now.”

Marcia noticed that besides the calm warmth of Adrienne’s hand, she could feel a small vibration.

“Do you feel something?” she asked.

“Yeah, do you?”

“It’s the Charm, I think. It’s vibrating.”

“Oh.” Adrienne lifted the Charm to her ear. “I can kind of hear something, but it’s really quiet.”

Marcia cast an Amplify on the Charm, and the blast of sound caused her to drop it as a loud drumming emanated from the object. But things became even more strange when a voice began projecting from the Charm.

_ We’re no strangers to love… _

“What’s happening?” Adrienne grasped Marcia’s hand in fright.

... _ You know the rules, and so do I… _

__ “I don’t know,” Marcia glared at the Charm, “can we make it stop?”

_...a full commitment’s what I’m thinking of, you wouldn’t get this from any other guy… _

__ Marcia picked up the Charm in her free hand and tried to muffle it in her tunic, but it only seemed to get louder.

_...I just want to tell you how I’m feeling, gotta make you understand… _

“Hey guys, I found the-what’s happening?” Dominic stood in the entrance to the main Vault, a dumbstruck look on his face.

“Charm malfunction, I think,” Marcia said, pressing the Charm deeper into her tunic, “it won’t stop singing, I think?”

_...never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you... _

“Huh,” Dominic walked over, and Marcia handed him the Charm. He rubbed it against his robe sleeve, then, holding it against the torchlight, he pulled a magnifying glass from his pocket and trained it on the Charm. “Roll. I think it says Rick Roll?”

_...never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and desert you… _

__ With a chorus of  _ oooo, give you up _ , the Charm slowly became quiet.

“I think this is some sort of malfunction, maybe. Or maybe a prank Charm. People used to make lots of those, but someone tricked an ExtraOrdinary with a fake spider Charm a few hundred years ago and they got banned. This one’s probably here for safekeeping.” Dominic turned the charm over in his hands. “This is really nice quality, Marcia. No wonder you pulled it out.”

“I didn’t find it,” Marcia said, “it was Adrienne.”

“Oh, well, here you go, Adrienne.” Dominic handed her the Charm. “Come on, we can look at the list now.”

At the large desk in the center of the room, Dominic spread out the large piece of parchment, on which a long list of book titles, publication dates, and authors were listed, as well as a date on which the book had been deemed lost. Marcia noted that the records were much more detailed than the basic list of titles in the Pyramid Library. She let Adrienne browse the list, which was written in too small of print for Marcia to read without glasses, though she’d never admit it.

“Here Marce,” Adrienne whispered after a moment, just loud enough for the woman next to her to hear, “I found it.”

Marcia was able to see the two lines without text. Unlike the Library list, where the lines looked to just have been skipped or Magykally erased, this list looked to have used an obscuring agent or corrective fluid to remove the text.

“Huh,” Marcia breathed, touching the hardened substance on the page.

“Oh, that?” Dominic asked, his gaze traveling to Marcia’s finger, “sometimes the scribes mess up on papers, and we use corrective fluid to cover it up. You normally don’t see it on records this old, though. Someone probably spelled a title wrong or something and redid it on the next line down.”

“Oh, okay,” Adrienne nodded. She bent down to take a better look at the lines, but quickly stood up straight upon hearing the sound of footsteps at the Vault door.

“I know there’s people in there, sir, why do you think I’ve come down?” came a brash voice from outside.

“Jillie.” Marcia rolled her eyes. “She can’t stand walk-ins.”

“I’ll deal with her,” Dominic ran toward the door and stepped outside. Upon his exit, Adrienne picked up the scroll.

“Do you have a light?” she asked, carefully rolling the top of the parchment to keep the bottom from reaching the floor. Marcia pulled her FlashLight from her Apprentice belt.

“Could you shine it on the back of the paper, please?” Adrienne asked. “The light might let me see the names of the books. Back when I was a kid, people would scribble over parts of papers I was reading, and if I held the pages to a candle, I could read the obscured writing, if I didn’t set the page on fire by accident.”

Marcia let out a small smile, remembering accidentally singeing her own books’ pages during late-night reading sessions. She held her FlashLight against the back of the paper. Adrienne emitted a small ‘hmm’ and squinted, gently tilting her head to the side.

“I’ve got it!” she said after a moment, “it’s the Booke of the Light, and the Book of the Darkenesse.”

“That makes sense. Who wrote it?” Marcia asked, before she was cut off by sounds of the door’s handle creaking. She quickly shoved her FlashLight into her tunic and helped Adrienne set the scroll back on the table before Dominic, followed by a smug Jillie Djinn, walked into the room.

“I told you to leave,” Jillie said plainly.

“I am here on Wizard Tower business, Miss Djinn,” Marcia deadpanned, matching Jillie’s tone perfectly, “which I am just finishing. Your help was much appreciated, Dominic. We’ll take our leave now. Come on, Adrienne.”

Marcia strode out of the Vault, followed by Adrienne.

“Marcia?” Dominic asked, as she walked past him, “I think your pocket’s glowing.”

Marcia fumbled in her pocket to turn off the FlashLight, which was still glowing, and continued to make her way down the hallway to the scribe chamber.

“Mr Lyon,” Marcia heard Jillie say down the hallway, “it was most unprofessional of you to abandon your work to help those  _ children. _ ”

“Marcia’s almost twenty, Jillie,” Dominic sighed, a note of irritation in his voice.

“No matter. I will be telling the Chief Scribe about this.” A huff, followed by determined footsteps sent Marcia walking faster, not wanting to be caught up to by Jillie.

She and Adrienne hurried quickly through the scribe chamber and out of the front lobby until they were safely on Wizard Way again.

“Let’s head back?” Marcia asked, lightly gasping.

“Let’s,” Adrienne smiled, which Marcia returned. But the grin fell from her face like a rock dropped from a high building when a yell came from down the street.

“Marcia! Adrie!” It was Silas Heap, a stack of books in his hands.

“Hello Silas,” Adrienne forced her head to stay upwards, an forced grin on her face.

“You were gone an awful long time. Was everything okay in there?” he asked, a look of genuine concern on his face.

“It was lovely, thank you,” Marcia molded her expression into one of graceful hospitality, “it was just a lengthy meeting. My friend and I really should get back to the Tower, right Adrie?”

“Yes, right,” Adrienne said quickly.

“Well, have a good afternoon,” Silas said cheerily, “tell Alther I said hello.”

“Jolly good. Give Sarah and the boys my best.” Marcia gave a short wave, and she and Adrienne turned in the direction of the Wizard Tower.

“Sorry,” Adrienne muttered, as the two reached the Courtyard Arch.

“Stop apologizing. You didn’t do anything. You were a great help today, you really were,” Marcia replied.

The two stepped up the Tower stairs and into the lobby, where they were greeted by the usual afternoon crowd of mingling Wizards. Marcia stepped away from Adrienne.

“Bye,” she said, keeping her words short, “thank you.”

“Yeah,” Adrienne gave a half smile, “see you soon.”

Marcia slipped into the crowd and headed toward the stairs, her head swimming with the day’s discoveries, and questions that far outweighed the answers. As the stairs rotated up to the twentieth floor, Marcia looked down into the lobby, her eyes trained on the head of strawberry blonde hair peeking out from the crowd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I rickrolled you.  
> and yes, the ghost is Tertius Fume, Marcia just doesn’t know that.


	12. Retrieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia has an incident, a lapse in self-control, and some soup.

“Now, dear, the trick to doing a good Retrieve is focusing on the exact location of the object. That’s why we can’t Retrieve lost items. You have to know where your item is or the spell won’t work.” Alther smiled, and the ball sitting on the floor in front of him flew neatly into his hand.

Alther and Marcia had been sitting on the floor of Alther’s sitting room for over an hour, during which Marcia’s tutor had described the mechanics of Retrieving small objects in excruciating detail.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” Alther set the ball back on the floor and looked expectantly at Marcia. She trained her eyes on the ball, clearing her mind of everything but the image of the ball jumping into her outstretched hand. Alther’s detailed instructions filled the empty space in her head, his confident smile telling Marcia that  _ of course she could do it. _ Marcia thought that if  _ could do it _ , then why was nothing happening?

The ball sprang from the floor with astronomical velocity and hit Marcia square in the face.

“Ow!” she yelled, bringing her hand to her forehead, where she could feel a bruise beginning to form. Alther quickly stood up.

I’ll go get you some ice,” he said and ran into the kitchen. Alone, Marcia let out an audible groan and shook her head slowly. She was definitely going to have a migraine later.

Alther returned with a cold block of ice wrapped in a purple towel. “Hold this to your head, dear,” he said warmly, holding the block out to Marcia, “it should help.”

The ice felt like a bolt of cold when it first touched Marcia’s forehead. She stifled a squeak, forcing a neutral, unbothered expression on her face. After a minute, the sharpness subsided and gave way to an almost pleasant numbness. She gave a sigh of relief.

“I’m not sure why that happened,” Alther said, “you did the components of the spell perfectly.”

“I’ll try again, then.” Marcia set the ice block down, turning her head away so that Alther wouldn’t see her wince. She reached back to grab the ball behind her, and set it in front of her. She focused hard on the ball, willing it to land on her palm instead of her forehead. Nerves filled her stomach like an angry nest of hornets, and it took everything in her to push them down.

“Good, good Marcia,” Alther said, as Marcia muttered the spell word for word. As she said the last syllable, the ball lifted in the air, hovered, and hit her square in the nose.

“Oh bother,” Marcia’s hands flew to her face, “I think I’m bleeding.”

Alther stood quickly, presumably to go get a tissue for the stream of blood that was falling from Marcia’s nose. As soon as he was gone, Marcia let her tough facade fall, and her features relaxed as tears streamed down her cheek. She wasn’t one to cry often, but the ball hitting her twice had  _ hurt. _ She was too tired to switch her expression back to neutral when Alther came back into the room, tissues in hand.

“Oh no, dear,” Alther’s face filled with compassion, “here, let me see your nose.”

Marcia moved her hands away from her face.

“This doesn’t look good. I think it might be broken,” Marcia grimaced, “don’t worry, it can be fixed. I’ll run down to the Sick Bay and see what they can do. Do you want to come, or stay behind?”

“I’ll stay behind, thank you.” Marcia dreaded the idea of other Wizards seeing her in her current state. Alther gave a friendly nod, and turned to leave.

Alone again, Marcia held a tissue to her nose to stop the blood from staining her tunic. With her other hand, she used the couch to shakily stand herself up, thinking to herself how ridiculous it was that somehow her balance had been impacted by something as silly as her nose. She walked over to her room, almost tripping over Alther’s favorite rug on the way there. Pushing open the door, she felt her spirits gently lift. The small, brightly lit space made her feel better, if only a little. She sat down on her bed, gazing out the window at the Castle, and behind it, the green of the late-spring Forest. She focused on the passing birds and occasional ghost, until something caught the corner of her eye.

Marcia hadn’t forgotten about the Booke wrapped in oven mitts, but every time she caught a glimpse of the purple peeking out from underneath her nightstand, guilt hitched in her throat. More often than not, she found herself wanting to pull the book out and read it, but that desire was always accompanied by the gut-wrenching feeling that she just wasn’t the right Wizard to do so. Why would someone who couldn’t Retrieve a ball from a foot in front of her, or Find someone two rooms away deserve to access ancient, powerful Magyk?

But Marcia felt desperate. Maybe the book had the answer as to why her spells just wouldn’t go right anymore. Before she could stop herself, she was on the floor, pulling the bundle of oven mitts free from its hiding place. Slipping the purple mitts onto her hands, she blew a thin layer of dust off on the cover, and flipped open to the first page.

Besides the day she and Adrienne had checked the Pyramid Library records, Marcia hadn’t touched the book, much less read it in depth. She couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the first spell alone, a powerful enchantment to put any animal completely under the caster’s will. She went to close the book, feeling like she had already made a mistake.

“Marcia?” The door to Alther’s suite slammed shut. Marcia whispered a curse.

“In here!” she called, already hurrying to transfer the oven mitts from her hands to the book. Realizing she didn’t have time to carefully tuck it into its normal hiding spot, she resolved to shoving it under her bed.

“Marcia? Why are you on the floor, dear?” Alther stood in the doorway, a container in his hands.

“No reason,” Marcia’s voice adopted a hard tone. She stood up, carefully pushing a stray bit of purple under her bed, “what’s that?”

“Madeline from the Sick Bay recommended that we use this ointment for your bruise,” Alther pulled a flask from the box, “some cotton balls for the bleeding, and in a few hours, we can use this Charm to mend your broken nose. She warned that it might not look exactly the same as it used to, but you can think of it like a battle scar.”

Alther chuckled and set the basket on Marcia’s desk. Marcia sat on the bed, and allowed Alther to apply the ointment to the dark spot on her forehead.

“Madeline said it was lucky the second ball only hit your nose, it could have done serious brain damage. There’s no Charm to Magyk away a concussion.” Alther set the ointment down. “That should help your bruise heal faster. Do you need anything else? Maybe some soup or tea? It’s probably best if you’re done with working for today.”

“I’m fine, really,” Marcia went to stand, “there’s enough daylight left to finish my history essay.”

As soon as she was on her feet, her head began to pound, and she found herself beginning to lose her balance. She reached out to her nightstand for support.

“I don’t think so,” Alther reached his hand out, forcing Marcia back on the bed, “you get yourself snuggled in, and I’ll be back with a snack.”

Resigned, Marcia watched Alther leave. As soon as he was gone, she swapped her Apprentice tunic for a warm cotton nightgown and crawled into bed. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was exhausted, and even with ointment, her bruise and nose were giving her a headache. She let her head fall onto the pillow behind her, and looked up at her blank ceiling. It felt quite bare, but there didn’t seem to be much Marcia couldn’t do about that.

If she was absolutely still, Marcia could hear the quiet noises of life around her: the Wizards on the floor below, the sounds of Alther preparing soup in the kitchen, the ticking of a clock. She let herself focus on the surrounding noise, and it almost made her head hurt less.

“Your soup’s ready, dear,” Marcia brought her attention back to Alther, balancing a tray carrying two bowls of chicken noodle soup, and mugs of herbal tea. He sat the tray down and laid his hand on Marcia’s forehead. “Good. No fever.”

Marcia eagerly grabbed her bowl and took a spoonful of broth. The warmth felt calming, and she found herself eating with a ravenous hunger she didn’t know she had.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” Alther let out a laugh, “I haven’t seen someone eat like that since my Wizard Welcoming Supper. Even bean casserole is delicious when I’d had nothing but DomDaniel’s subpar quick meals for seven years.”

“The soup is wonderful, thank you.”

The room was silent as Alther and Marcia ate their dinner. Only when the bowls were empty and the tea was starting to cool did Alther break the silence.

“What’s under your bed, Marcia?”

“What?” Marcia almost spat out a mouthful of tea.

“The thing you kicked under the bed. Don’t worry dear, I won’t take it away. Unless you plan on murdering someone with that. Then I am obligated to.”

Not even Alther laughed at the joke. Marcia’s face began to pale.

“Nothing. Probably just a spare cloak or something. It’s fine.”

“Okay then. Well, if you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll let you get some rest.”

“I’m good. Thanks for the food, Alther.”

“No problem. Enjoy your oven mitts.” Alther smiled and winked. “I’m not blind, Marcia.”

With a laugh, Alther gathered up the dishes and left the room, the door shutting softly behind him.

Marcia collapsed onto her pillow, and let her exhaustion pull her into a deep, dreamless sleep. It was the first time in while that she had remained unconscious from dusk until dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not me making you wait two weeks for a filler chapter


	13. A Walk in the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrienne and Marcia go on a little excursion.

Weeks passed. Spring turned to summer, and summer turned to autumn, and to any outsider, the seasons seemed to be the only markers of change.

Marcia Overstrand threw herself into her work, as she normally did, her Tower bedroom becoming her place of refuge. She was terrified of having to face the mortification of another backfiring spell, and utilized the many nights where she just couldn’t seem to fall asleep, repeating spells over and over until she could do them perfectly. Alther made the comment one morning that Marcia’s room smelled strongly of cocoa, a result of her using a Charm to transform a large amount of small pebbles into pieces of dark chocolate, many of which she had eaten.

Alther had asked why Marcia was suddenly so determined, and hastily developed excuses kept her from telling the truth. As little as she wanted to admit it, she was afraid to fail. Up until her Apprenticeship, her Magyk had been remarkable, flawless, even. Part of the reason her parents had stopped traveling was to make sure Marcia would be able to secure a Tower Apprenticeship. The years of teaching and discipline her parents had laden her with had paid off beautifully. Here Marcia was, perfect student and protégée to the most powerful Wizard in the Castle, and three and half years away from being able to take the position herself. The fear of letting her parents and herself down pushed Marcia deeper and deeper into her studies, her brain constantly repeating that if she practiced enough, surely she’d work past the Magykal anomaly eventually, wouldn’t she?

Equally as busy was Adrienne. Alther made an effort to get Marcia to leave her room at least once a week, and every time she saw Adrienne in passing, the girl only ever seemed to have time for nothing more than a quick hello. It was one of these days—when Marcia had reluctantly agreed to pick up a pair of boots from Terry Tarsal’s shoe shop—when she found Adrienne struggling to balance a stack of books at the foot of the Tower stairs.

“Hey Adrienne,” Marcia said as she walked past, as she usually did.

“Hiya Marcia,” came a chipper reply, followed by a concerning wobble of the book stack.

Marcia reached out a hand to steady the stack, and motioned for Adrienne to set it on the floor.

“Thanks,” Adrienne sighed, her cheeks flushed with exhaustion, “but I was doing okay, really.”

Marcia gave a shrug, sensing that a blunt ‘no you weren’t’ wouldn’t land well.

“So how’ve you been?” she asked instead.

“I’m okay, thanks. I’ve been looking for you, actually. I want to ask you about something, if that’s okay,” Adrienne toyed with her ever-present purple hair ribbon, which was tying her hair back as a headband.

“Okay then. Walk with me.” Marcia turned to head toward the Tower doors, causing Adrienne to leave her books at the stairs and follow, breaking into a slow jog to keep up.

“Are you sure it’s okay for you to just leave your work behind?” Marcia asked, stopping to let Adrienne catch her breath.

“It’ll be okay.” Adrienne shivered, her light tunic doing little to combat the autumn chill. “Brian’s been a lot more relaxed lately.”

Marcia sighed with relief, remembering the last time she’d taken Adrienne unannounced.

“What did you need me for?” Marcia asked.

“Right, that. Well, after we went to the Manuscriptorium, I decided to see what I could find about the Booke of the Darke, but I couldn’t find mention of it in any of Brian’s indexes.”

“That makes sense. If nothing mentioned the Booke of the Light, why would it mention the Darke?”

“That’s exactly what I thought. So I let it go, and didn’t think about it for a while, but I was cleaning the landing outside of Brian’s rooms a few weeks ago and Alther came by and asked me if I had seen Madeline from the Sick Bay. I don’t remember why, but it made me think about that book of herbs I had at home. I didn’t get the chance to grab it until yesterday, but I flipped through it, and I found something you might want to see.” Adrienne pulled a small, thin book from her tunic pocket and handed it to Marcia.

Marcia opened the book to a page marked with a stray piece of paper and skimmed the paragraphs of text.

“I don’t understand. These are just instructions on how to store potion ingredients.”

”Keep reading.”

”Oh.” Marcia stopped reading and stared at the words halfway down the page. “Proper storage of ingredients can allow even the most novice of potion makers to create brews rivaling those of the Darke Texts.”

”Do you think that might be the book?” Adrienne asked, hopeful.

”I don’t know,” Marcia opened the door to Terry Tarsal’s shop and beckoned Adrienne inside, “but we don’t have anything else to go off of. Someone seems to be purposefully obscuring records, and-“

Marcia stopped short, seeing a familiar head of curly hair sitting at a chair next to Terry’s desk.

“Well hi there Miss ExtraOrdinary, what a surprise,” Teya said, her voice laced with acid, “and your little girlfriend too. It’s always a pleasure,  _ Adrienne _ .”

“Hey Teya,” Adrienne looked at the floor.

“She isn’t my-forget it. Where’s Terry?” Marcia asked, exasperated.

“He’s in the back getting my work boots.” Teya grinned.

“We’ll just wait for him to be back then.” Marcia gave Teya the most unbothered stare she could muster before pointedly walking to the corner of the shop and settling in a plush chair. Adrienne settled into the chair opposite hers, and the two waited in patient silence for Terry to return from the shop’s backroom.

“Here we go,” came a cheery voice from behind the counter, followed by Terry entering the front room, “one pair of brown work boots, size nine.”

“Thank you,” Teya replied, her voice coated with artificial sweetness.

“Of course. Have a nice day, Miss Rhymes.” Terry waved to Teya, who floated out the door. He then turned to Marcia. “Good afternoon, Apprentice. Picking up Mister Mella’s shoes?”

“Yes, thank you.” Marcia gave a diplomatic smile.

Terry reached from below the desk and handed Marcia a box secured neatly with brown cord. Marcia placed a few coins in Terry’s hand and with her free hand, beckoned Adrienne to leave.

“Thank you Terry,” Marcia called as she walked out the door and stepped back into the autumn chill. Adrienne shivered.

“Bother, Adrienne, do you even own a cloak?” Marcia sighed. “Hold this.”

Marcia dropped the shoebox into Adrienne’s arms and undid the button of her green wool cloak, pulling it off of her shoulders. She then slipped it onto Adrienne, buttoning it so that it would stay on, despite her shoulders being noticeably smaller than Marcia’s. Although the cloak was too big for Adrienne, enveloping her more like an oversized blanket than a jacket, she looked instantly warmer in it.

“Oh, wow, thanks,” Adrienne said, her eyes trained on the cobblestone street, “you didn’t have to do that, really.”

“It’s fine.” Marcia took the shoebox back from Adrienne and started to walk back to the Wizard Tower. “Now what shall we do about the book?”

“The book?”

“The Darke Text. Obviously we should see what the Library or Manuscriptorium has on record. I don’t want to have to deal with that abhorrent Jillie again, so we’ll need to find a time when she’s not there. I’m sure you could ask Dominic. And Alther will be gone tomorrow morning for his monthly conference with the Queen, we could check the Library then.”

“I don’t know,” Adrienne said quietly, “do you think there’d be any records at all? It seems silly to waste time looking for something that might not be there.”

“It’s better than doing nothing,” Marcia replied, “we can’t just keep the Booke under my bed forever. We have to know what it is and why we aren’t supposed to know about it.”

“You’re right. But I’m not worried about the records being obscured, I don’t think they would’ve been there in the first place.”

“Why?” Marcia asked, confused.

“Well I-um did a bit of research earlier, and I think that the Darke Texts aren’t a Wizard term. The only places I’ve ever seen them mentioned are old gardening books, and Wizards don’t garden.”

“Well then, what do you think we should do?”

“I’m not sure. I bet my mum would know. You’d have to ask her.”

“Why don’t I? Your room is nearby, we can just go when she’s not working.”

Adrienne paused for a moment, almost as if to laugh. “Alright then, we’ll ask my mum. Meet me bright and early tomorrow morning, and make sure you bring a snack.”

With that, Adrienne walked up the Wizard Tower steps and into the lobby, where her stack of discarded books were still sitting, just as she’d left them.

Adrienne had said ‘bright and early’, and she had certainly meant ‘bright and early’. Marcia had woken up an hour before the sunrise, grabbed the cloak and pouch of fruit she had set out the night before, and ridden the stairs down to the Junior Girls’ Apprentice dorm, only to find Adrienne already sitting there, and from the looks of it, she’d been awake for quite some time.

“Good morning Adrienne,” Marcia said with a yawn, “you’re up early.”

“What a coincidence. So are you.” Adrienne smiled and slipped her book into a small knapsack. She slung the bag over her shoulder before pulling on a forest-green cloak. “Are you ready to go?”

“Okay. Let’s get on with it, then.”

Marcia followed Adrienne onto the rotating stairs, which slowly brought them down to the lobby. The large chamber was deserted, with most of the Wizard Tower’s inhabitants still sound asleep. Even the floor found Marcia and Adrienne’s early outing strange, shifting to read  _ Good Morning Apprentices. You’re up early _ as the girls stepped onto the lobby floor. Marcia and Adrienne’s footsteps echoed in the empty room as they made their way to the Tower doors.

As soon as Marcia whispered the password, the door swung open, buffeting her and Adrienne with a gust of cold morning wind. Almost instinctively, she pulled her second-favorite cloak tighter (Adrienne had forgotten to return the one Marcia had lent her the day before), and Adrienne did the same.

“Lead the way,” Marcia said, and Adrienne began walking toward the courtyard arch with Marcia following closely behind.

The early portion of the walk was spent in amicable silence, with Adrienne seeming to prefer not speaking, and Marcia not minding. Instead, Marcia noticed Adrienne eagerly taking in her surroundings, even though she’d been down Wizard Way countless times before. Her eyes seemed drawn to almost insignificant things that Marcia found herself noticing for the first time: a small succulent in the Manuscriptorium front window; carvings of flowers etched on the door to Larry’s Dead Languages, no doubt done by a bored staff member; the thought-out order to the cloaks in the Bott’s Cloaks display, arranged from ExtraOrdinary Wizard to Ordinary Wizard to Wizard Apprentice cloaks, in that order.

Rather than turn onto Gold Button Drop, as one normally would to get to the Ramblings, Adrienne made a left off of Ceremonial Way. Marcia decided not to comment, knowing that there was another, albeit more time-consuming, path to the Ramblings if one continued down the Way a while longer. But Adrienne walked past that branch with no intention of stopping, and it wasn’t until the pair had reached the area parallel to where the East Gate Lookout Tower’s foundations lay that Marcia decided that she needed to say something  _ right then _ .

“Adrienne,” she said, harsher than she would have liked, “you missed the turn.”

“Did I?” Adrienne stopped to think, absently tugging on her purple ribbon. “No I didn’t. We’re going the right way. This road leads straight to the North Gate.”

“The North Gate?”

“Yes.” Adrienne kept walking, oblivious to the confusion encompassing Marcia’s face.

Marcia had no choice but to follow, and soon the pair reached the North Gate, where Gringe the gatekeeper was beginning to lower the bridge, his young daughter Lucy watching from a nearby stool.

“Wonderful,” Adrienne said softly, “I timed it perfectly.”

Not wanting to draw attention to herself, Adrienne stepped into the shadow of a nearby tree and waited for Gringe to finish the long task of lowering the bridge.

“Blasted bridge boy,” Marcia heard him grumble, “decides not ta show up. And for what? Bloody cholera, the twerp. Remember that, Lucy, boys are nothing but lazy pigs.”

“Okay Dad.” Lucy didn’t seem to be affected by Gringe’s words, and continued to kick her legs playfully against the legs at the stool.

Gringe, finished with his task, leaned against the side of the bridge crank and wiped his hands on his legs. Marcia took his action as an opportunity to cross the bridge, even if she didn’t quite understand why, and a nervous Adrienne had no choice but to follow.

“Good morning, Mr Gringe,” Marcia said, approaching the bridge, her voice adopting its normal diplomatic tone.

“Well, would ya look at that. It’s the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice, and a li’l friend too. What’re ya doin’ at such’n early hour?”

“We’re crossing the bridge, sir,” Adrienne replied, quickly pressing a silver coin into Gringe’s hands.

“An ‘alf crown,” he mused, surprised.

“For the both of us,” Adrienne said, already stepping onto the bridge, “and we were never here.”

And with that, she was gone, her boots thumping lightly against the wooden planks of the bridge.

Marcia was impressed. Never before had she seen Adrienne so intimidating (or less socially anxious), and when turned to tell Marcia to  _ come on already, the sun’s almost up _ , Marcia couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.

Once across the bridge, Adrienne waited for Marcia to catch up, her demeanor returned to its normal, anxious state.

“Tell me why we’re going this way again?” Marcia asked, still confused as to why she was being led away from the Castle.

“You wanted to see my mum, didn’t you?” Adrienne replied, starting down the path leading to the Forest.

“Well, yes, but you live in the Ramblings.”

“I do live in the Ramblings.” Marcia waited for Adrienne to elaborate. Adrienne did not. Knowing that she wasn’t going to get an outright answer, Marcia decided to change the subject.

“So you and Teya?” she asked, regretting the words as soon as she said them. Looking over, she was relieved to see that Adrienne looked nothing more than mildly amused, if anything.

“Me and Teya?” she asked nonchalantly.

“Yes. Why don’t you get along?”

“If you’re looking for a deep and traumatic backstory, this isn’t where you’ll find it. But because you’re curious, we just don’t fit right. She was already a Hopeful when Dominic and I joined, and she wanted to be Dominic’s friend and not mine. That’s it, really.”

“And the others?”

“They all got along really well. Teya and Raymond were already friends, and they got along with Pascalle and Thomasinn when they joined, and they all loved Dominic, and I just wasn’t like them. It was easier to go off on my own then to force myself somewhere I didn’t fit.”

“It felt like you were in a bubble, and no matter what you did, you couldn’t get out to everyone else, and everyone else didn’t realize the bubble was there,” Marcia added, not realizing she was speaking more to her own experience than to Adrienne’s.

“Yes. It didn’t look like anything was wrong with me, I was just strange. And Teya didn’t like that. So she’d laugh at me and call me names, and everyone else would just pretend it wasn’t happening. And then you showed up-“‘

Adrienne paused.

“And then you showed up, and I felt like you actually understood it, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. Here, turn this way.” Adrienne pointed to a small branch in the Forest path.

The conversation ended there, and Adrienne pointedly refused to discuss any more personal matters, but Marcia noticed that from that point on during the walk, Adrienne looked as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Marcia wasn’t sure how much time had passed since they had entered the Forest, the dense canopy of trees blocking any way to determine the sun’s position, but Adrienne seemed to have a pretty accurate internal clock, deciding it was just about lunchtime almost exactly when Marcia began to feel hungry. Sitting down onto a fallen log, Marcia pulled the apple and small roll she had packed from her tunic pocket, only to feel outdone by what seemed to be a full meal produced by Adrienne.

“Oh,” she said, looking down at her food, “this is embarrassing. I didn’t think you’d bring anything so I brought enough for both of us,.”

“That’s okay. What is it?” Marcia asked, looking at the strangely shaped lump in Adrienne’s lap.

“It’s shepherd’s pie. I tried to recreate Alther’s, but I just couldn’t do it. Brian hates peas, so I had to bring the whole thing with me.”

Marcia also hated peas, but took a portion of the pie when Adrienne offered it, resolving to save her apple and bread for later.

“Oh wow, Adrienne,” she said after taking a cautious bite, “this is actually good. I mean, I’m surprised, not because I didn’t think you could cook, but because Alther’s pie is-I don’t care for Alther’s pie.”

“Thanks,” Adrienne’s cheeks flushed a happy pink, “I was really picky as a kid, so one day, my mum handed me the few things I would eat and told me to deal with it myself. I’ve been cooking ever since. I’m not super great at it, but I know enough to fend for myself.” She then looked down and made herself busy with perfectly balancing a bite of chicken, peas, and potato on her fork.

The two ate quickly, and after Marcia helped Adrienne package the leftover pie, they continued their walk to the unknown destination. As the path reached a small clearing, Adrienne pulled Marcia into the shadow of a large tree.

“What’re you doing?” Marcia asked.

“Shh!” Adrienne looked around nervously, then, convinced no one had heard Marcia, she continued. “We’re here, but this is probably going to be really weird for you, so just keep your cloak over your Apprentice tunic, stay right here, and don’t say anything, okay? You can ask questions later.”

Marcia did as she was told, wrapping her cloak around herself to hide the telltale marks of her Apprentice tunic. Confused, she watched Adrienne step into the clearing, and she stifled a gasp as the afternoon sunlight highlighted the glyphs and embroidery on Adrienne’s cloak that Marcia hadn’t been able to see before. A young woman soon walked over to Adrienne, starting a dialogue that Marcia was too far away to hear. But she was able to clearly hear the entrance of a tall, willowy woman with long, strawberry blonde hair into the clearing, and she could even more clearly hear the joyous shout of “Adrie!”

“Hello mum,” came Adrienne’s reply, and with a worried look in Marcia’s direction, Adrienne was whisked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading this far, it means the absolute world, and for the people taking time to comment, even though I never know what to reply, it makes me so happy to see what you have to say xo


	14. Summer Circle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcia finally meets Adrienne’s mother, Adrienne meets reminders of her past, and I finally work up the courage to let a character swear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the formatting gets messed up halfway through and it wouldn’t fix, so sorry

“Adrienne’s mum is a witch?!” Marcia’s whisper echoed harshly against the now empty clearing. After being whisked away, Adrienne and her mum, along with the third witch, had vacated the clearing, and though Marcia was now alone, she hesitated to leave the cover of the Forest trees.

With her cloak still pulled tightly around her, Marcia leaned against a tree, her thoughts swimming in her brain. So many things about Adrienne now made sense: her knowledge of plants and unconventional Magyk, the oddly charming blue tint to her green eyes, her constantly empty Ramblings room. But so many things seemed even more confusing than they had before. Why did Adrienne live in the Castle in the first place? How could she be a Wizard if she was a witch too? And none of the childhood stories she had told Marcia could be true, could they? What else had she lied about?

Marcia desperately wanted to shout into the empty Forest, she wished that the trees could give her answers. But despite the cacophony in her head, all she was able to say was “I’m friends with a witch?”

“Well if you want to put it that way, yeah.” Marcia turned in surprise to see the third witch, who she had thought left, sitting on a stump. “You’re talking about Adrienne, aren’t you?”

“You’re the one who got Adrienne taken away! Who are you?” Marcia asked, backing away from the witch.

“I’m not the one who got Adrienne taken away, but you can go ahead and think that. I’m Morwenna Mould. And who might you be, darling?”

“Marcia Overstrand.” Marcia kept her tone clipped, tones of distrust hardening her words.

”The ExtraOrdinary Apprentice? Well, only fitting for our Witch Daughter. Amalie will be pleased. Come with me, Apprentice, I’m sure the Witch Mother will be delighted to see you.”

Morwenna beckoned for Marcia to follow her into the clearing.

“You’ve visited at a wonderful time, darling,” Morwenna said as she turned down a well-kept path, “our Summer Circle is just finishing up, and having to find our Winter Circle is a chore, especially to a non-witch like you. And you’ve caught the Witch Mother in such a great mood too. I bet she’s delighted to see Adrienne, even after what she did.”

“What did she do?”

“And she wanted out of the coven anyway. Some of us think she did it on purpose, but I doubt she’d think of a plan like that on her own. But never mind her, now a more competent witch can fill her spot”

“But what did she do?”

“And we’re here!” Morwenna said, distracting Marcia from her question by gesturing to the clearing they had just entered. A circle of carefully constructed shelters surrounded a massive campfire, over which sat a large copper pot. “Welcome to the Summer Circle, Apprentice.”

Inside Adrienne’s mother’s tent was hot and stuffy and smelled strongly of cloves, and Adrienne had to take a moment to get used to it. She stood cautiously at the entrance and watched as her mother took a seat on a large pile of pelts and cushions, willing herself not to let her flight response kick in and cause her to flee as fast as she could.

“Oh don’t just stand there, pumpkin,” Amalie said as soon as she was settled, “sit down! I still have your favorite cushion here, the purple one with the stars. It even matches your little ribbon.”

Adrienne tentatively sat onto said cushion, and almost instinctively began to pull on her hair ribbon.

“I, um, like your decorations, mum. You’ve really outdone yourself this summer.” Adrienne stared at the floor, her nerves at an all-time high.

“Don’t bother with the chit chat, pumpkin. I’m delighted that you’re rejoining the coven.”

“I’m not rejoining, mum. I like being an Apprentice. Besides, I can’t come back, I’m banished.”

“Banishment is only a word, Adrie. I can have that overturned.”

“Mum, I didn’t come here to be a witch again, I came here to ask you a question.” The words left Adrienne’s mouth sharper than she wanted them to, and she felt obliged to add a “sorry.”

“Well, I must say I’m disappointed, but you’ve made your choice. I suppose that’s why you’ve brought your little Wizard friend with you, isn’t it. Don’t look surprised, pumpkin, her cloak is such a bright shade of green, she’d only stand a chance of camouflage in a cart full of limes.”

Adrienne had to nod in agreement. Marcia’s fur-lined cloak wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

“Yes mum, I brought her with me because she had questions for you.”

“Well, I sent Morwenna to get her, and she’s very quick, so we shan’t wait long. But tell me about your jaunt in the castle, pumpkin. That bore Alther Mella’s still ExtraOrdinary?”

”Yes, but he’s quite nice, really.”

“Bet he wouldn’t be so kind if he knew, huh,” Amalie mumbled. Adrienne pretended she didn’t hear.

“He’s really nice, yes. And I made friends, too. You saw Marcia. She’s wonderful, I like her a lot.”

“Well then you best be careful then. Wizards will turn on you so quickly, pumpkin. I told you I could find a nice witch for you to settle down with, you only need to ask.”

“Thanks, mum.” Adrienne’s intense stare could have bored a hole in the floor.

“And you still do that thing, I suppose. Twiddle twaddle with your little bow. And you still won’t look me in the eyes. Goodness, Adrienne, you Wizards have terrible manners.”

“Mum!” A flash of movement caught Adrienne’s eye. “Morwenna’s here.”

“Oh, wonderful. Bring her in.”

Adrienne stood and poked her head out of the tent flap.

“Hello,” she said, “she’s ready to see you, Marce.”

Morwenna immediately sat up straight, a smile plastered on her face, but Marcia took the opportunity to act just like Adrienne, keeping her eyes trained on the floor as she slowly stood and walked to the tent.

Adrienne gestured for both women to join her in the tent. Morwenna didn’t hesitate before dropping onto Adrienne’s favorite cushion, and Marcia settled hesitantly onto a green pillow embroidered with frogs. Adrienne stood awkwardly in the corner.

“Alright then,” she said, her ribbon weaving between her fingers in a nervous blur, “mum, this is Marcia Overstrand, my friend from the Wizard Tower, Marcia, this is Amalie McNamara, the Forest Witch Mother, and my mum.”

“Oh, Marcia,” Amalie said, her voice full of disgust only Adrienne could see, “it’s so lovely to meet you. My little Adrie finds you to be just wonderful.”

“Lovely to meet you as well, Witch Mother. Adrienne regards you very highly. I hope my visit doesn’t cause a disruption.”

“Not at all, not at all. Any opportunity to see my daughter is the furthest thing from disruption.”

Morwenna gave a silent laugh. Adrienne gripped her ribbon tighter.

“What did you want to ask me, Marcia dear?” Amalie asked.

“It’s about a Magykal text, something we believe you’d know about.”

“I’d be happy to help. Morwenna, why don’t you take Adrie outside so I can talk to Marcia in private?”

“Of course, Witch Mother.” Morwenna stood and placed a hand on Adrienne’s back, digging her fingertips into her tunic. “Let’s go, Adrie, I bet the others would love to see you.”

“Goodbye pumpkin!” Amalie chirped.

“Bye mum,” Adrienne mumbled in reply, before being coerced out of the tent.

The second she was outside, Adrienne relished the taste of clean, clove-free air. She watched as Morwenna sat at a log surrounding the campfire, and hesitated before joining her. Morwenna grunted, then scooted away.

“Hello to you too, then,” Adrienne mumbled, adjusting the buttons on her tunic.

“You have a lot of nerve showing up here, traitor,” Morwenna snapped.

“But I-“

“What makes you think you can just come back? You mummy may have a pardon ready for you, but you’ll never be fully welcomed in the Forest Coven, even if you are Witch Mother. You’re a liar and a fake and a nasty little bitch, and I’ll be a better leader than you ever could.”

“I don’t want to rejoin the Coven! Maybe if you stopped antagonizing me for one second you’d know!” Adrienne shouted, and her face went pale as she registered what she’d said. “I hate being a Witch. I hate it here, and I hate my mother, and I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” Morwenna chuckled, “you don’t hate a hateful bone in your body, Adrienne McNamara, that’s why you make a terrible witch.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I am terrible.” Adrienne traced the swirls of wood on the log with her index finger, letting the sounds of the surrounding Forest fill the silence.

“Why are you here, Adrienne?” Morwenna asked with a sigh.

“I’m helping a friend. I don’t want to be here just as much as you don’t want me to.”

“You had so much lined up for you, and you just let it go. Had all the power the Coven could offer and you gave it up to go kiss-up to some dinky Tower Wizards. God, you’re so stupid. I’d kill to be Witch Daughter, have my spot handed to me on a silver platter.”

“You can have it. I’m sure you’d make an excellent golden child, the one Amalie never had. She loves you, Morwenna.”

“She loved you too, you know. She almost cried when you left.”

“To elicit sympathy, probably,” Adrienne paused, “why are you being so nice to me? We hated each other.”

“People change, darling. Besides, I’m next in line now, I’ve got no reason to hate you. Look, I’ll admit, I was skeptical when you first came, but you really don’t want to come back, and I respect that. Go kiss all the Wizards you want, Adrienne.”

“Thanks, Mori,” Adrienne slid across the bench, wrapping Morwenna in a hug. Morwenna hesitated before reciprocating, awkwardly patting Adrienne’s shoulder.

The serenity lasted about four seconds. The bushes behind the campfire began to rustle, and two young witches tumbled out. Morwenna jumped away from Adrienne and turned to gesture to the witches, but not before Adrienne felt herself be covered in mud.

“What?” she sputtered.

“Kaylee, Shayla, I had it under control!” Morwenna hissed. “She’s not rejoining.”

“So?” Kaylee asked, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder, “she’s still a traitor.”

“But you can fraternize with the enemy if you want,” said Shayla, “we can set the scorpions on you too.”

“Scorpions? They’re not even native here,” Adrienne said, her voice full of panic.

“Who cares? I’d hate to be you right now,” Kaylee laughed.

“Sorry Adrienne,” Morwenna slowly backed away as Shayla, holding what looked to be a homemade cage, approached.

“Have fun, little Wizard,” Shayla cackled, her hand poised to open the trap.

“No, no, stop!” Adrienne yelled. Her eyes wrenched shut and her hands flew in front of her. She braced herself for whatever Shayla was going to throw at her, but it never came. The clearing was silent.

Adrienne cautiously opened her eyes and was met with three Frozen witches staring back at her.

“Oh bother,” Adrienne whispered, “what did I do?”

Whispering as much of the Sixty Second Dry Clean as she could remember, Adrienne ran back to Amalie’s tent. She didn’t hesitate before throwing the entrance flap open.

“If you travel through the Third Way, they’ll be right—oh, hello pumpkin. What happened?”

“Marcia,” Adrienne said, her eyes full of fear, “we need to go. Right now.”

“Okay, then. Thank you Amalie, you’ve been a great help.” Marcia stood with a sigh. She gave a quick wave goodbye before following Adrienne out of the tent. Marcia gasped at the sight of three Frozen witches at the edge of the clearing, but said nothing.

Almost instinctively, Adrienne reached for Marcia’s hand, and Marcia was quick to drop it. Confused but still fueled by anxiety, Adrienne flew down the Forest path, refusing to slow down until the two were a modest distance from the clearing.

“Adrienne,” Marcia heaved, as soon as Adrienne had slowed to a walk, “what the hell did you do?”

“It was an accident, I promise, I was just overwhelmed, and-”

“Just overwhelmed? You got kicked out of a coven! And you couldn’t tell me? You’re a fucking witch, Adrienne, and that wasn’t something you thought I should know?”

“Because I knew this would-”

“And you’re covered in dirt, trust you to do something completely stupid when you’re left to your own devices. Oh wait, I can’t trust you at all.”

“Marcia, please, if you’d just-”

“No, I won’t. No wonder you’re like this. Once a witch, always a witch. I can’t believe I was friends with you.”

Marcia quickened her pace, storming away down the Forest path.

“Marcia, please, wait!” Adrienne called, but Marcia was already gone. She briefly considered turning back to the coven, but the shriek of the witch who had no doubt found Kaylee, Morwenna, and Shayla quickly ended the thought.

“Well done, Adrienne,” she whispered, letting herself fall to the floor, “you’ve royally fucked up.”

And in the silence of the afternoon Forest, she let herself cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m sorry you had to wait a month, thanks for hanging in there :)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic, so apologies there. And apologies for lack of canonical characters, I will try my best to fit them in


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